Effect Of Physical Exercise On Depressive Symptoms In Hospitalized Patients With Depression

The aim of the present study was to evaluate depressive symptoms, separately and as a whole, before and at one month after the conclusion of a physical exercise program in hospitalized patients with depression:The participants were 48 patients who were divided into two groups (pharmacological = 24 and pharmacological+physical exercise = 24). As a result, when comparing between groups one month after carrying out the physical exercise program in conjunction with the pharmacological treatment, the pharmacological+physical exercise group had significantly lower scores on the BDI (M-sum= 1.0, DTsum = 1.35), compared to the group that only had the pharmacological treatment (M-sum = 11.08, DTsum = 5.97). uun Regarding the repeated measures ANOVA, it is shown that there were significant differences in both groups, pharmacological(F-(41) = 11.35, p < .000;eta(2)(p) = .33; d = .79) and pharmacological + physical exercise (F-(41) = 22.81, p < .000;eta(2)(p) = .50; d = .86) due to the time factor. However, a greater effect size was found in the group where physical exercise was used. In conclusion, this study shows that a physical exercise program in conjunction with pharmacological treatment reduces most of the depressive symptoms in hospitalized patients.