Exercise As A Treatment For Depression: A Meta-Analysis Adjusting For Publication Bias, Journal of Psychiatric Research, June 2016

From the abstract:

The effects of exercise on depression have been a source of contentious debate.

I did not know that. I thought the evidence for benefits of exercise vis-a-vis depression was relatively strong. Although, if I was a big pharmaceutical company for which antidepressants brought in a fair share of revenue, I’d make sure there were studies published that countered benefits.

We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of exercise interventions in people with depression (including those with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) or ratings on depressive symptoms), comparing exercise versus control conditions. … Twenty-five RCTs were included.

Overall, exercise had a large and significant effect on depression.

Previous meta-analyses may have underestimated the benefits of exercise due to publication bias.

Our data strongly support the claim that exercise is an evidence-based treatment for depression.

Publication bias. I wonder how that happened. You know who benefits from publication bias here? BigPharma.

I liked this graphic:

Source: How to Exercise to Help Treat Depression, Healthy Place, 29 March 2018