Overview
- The review pooled 81 meta-analyses from 1,079 trials with 79,551 participants and was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
- Exercise produced large reductions in depression symptoms and moderate reductions in anxiety, with benefits comparable to psychotherapy or antidepressants.
- Aerobic activity showed the strongest effects across outcomes, while group-based and professionally supervised programs delivered greater gains for depression.
- For anxiety, the most consistent improvements followed lower-intensity activity performed over programs lasting up to eight weeks.
- Emerging adults and postnatal women saw the biggest improvements, prompting calls for clinicians to prescribe structured, social exercise despite evidence heterogeneity and quality limits.