For folks suffering from depression, exercise is often suggested by doctors and well-meaning loved ones. But try telling a depressed person to just go jog a mile every so often. Would prescribing cardio just like medication work better, especially for those who've tried the Lazy Susan of anti-depressants? Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, a psychiatrist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, led a study that suggests it might. Think host Krys Boyd talks to Trivedi at noon.
First of all, patients who take on an exercise regimen have nothing to lose, Trivedi explains to the New York Times' Gretchen Reynolds for this Well Blog post.There are no side effects, and it's cheap. As far as increasing recovery, though, Trivedi and his team found patients who stuck with a routine for four months according to specific calorie-burning specifications while taking an antidepressant did well -- 29.5 percent had achieved remission. (Doctors say some antidepressants, taken alone without exercise, can take 9 months to a year to put patients in the clear, and then, of course, the symptoms could come back.)
Trivedi is also researching ways to match patients with an antidepressant that won't give them side effects or waste their time (or worse, worsen their depression.) “Remember one of the biggest symptoms of the disease is self-doubt and feeling down,” Trivedi told KERA's Lauren Silverman for this Morning Edition story. “And if you take three, four, five months to get them to the right treatment, they lose hope; losing hope is part of the symptom.”
Listen to Think from noon to 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, on KERA 90.1. You can stream the show at kera.org.
