Effect of aerobic exercises on depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-esteem, and quality of life among adults with depression

Depression impacts on daily living activities of depressive patients. Patients suffering with mental disorders also show impairment in their Quality of life. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of aerobic exercises on depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-esteem, and quality of life among adults suffering from depression. Methods: Participants (N = 80) were assigned to the experimental group (40), received the aerobic exercises along with medication and control group (40), received the medication only. The intervention was carried out over a period of 8 weeks with the intervention group performing the exercise for 3 days a week. Results: The mean age of the experimental group 40.0 +/- 10.18 and control group is 43.63 +/- 11.86 respectively. Significant reduction was seen in the depressive symptoms and anxiety when in intervention group when compared to control group using independent t-test. The study also showed improvement in the self-esteem and overall quality of life scores and specifically significant improvement was seen in the area of psychological, social and environmental domain as measured by WHO QOL scale. Conclusion: The study concludes that exercise had definitely helped in reducing the depressive symptoms, anxiety and improved the self-esteem and quality of life of patients with depression. The study was found to be cost-effective and feasible to be made as a routine intervention along with medication for patients to manage depressive symptoms.