Effect of Physical Activity on Depression among Young Population

Abstract

Background: Depression is a disorder that has characteristics of decreased sleep, decreased appetite, and feelings of guilt, negative mood, less interest for pleasure, decreased energy and poor brain concentration [1, 2].  Above mentioned feelings can either be for short duration or long duration, resulting in a decreased interest for life and this can result in extreme action such as suicide [2]. This study was intended to find out the effects of physical activity on depression. Methods: The participants were diagnosed as Moderate, Severe and Extreme depressive by using the Beck Depression Inventory scale. After diagnosis Treatment session of fifty five minutes was given for eight weeks and three days per week. Scoring was done before treatment, after 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th week of treatment session to evaluate the effects. Changes were computed and compared in and among groups through descriptive statistics and repeated measure ANOVA. Results: A significant drop in depression level of patients was observed in eight weeks intervention period. The mean and standard deviation of patient’s BDI level at week 0 before intervention was 31.78(4.556) with (p=0.00), shows that all the patients are in different levels of depression. After 8 weeks of intervention the value dropped to 15.30(12.40) with (p=0.00) shows that majority of the patients are in Normal status. Conclusions: It was concluded that the physical activity is helpful in alleviating the Depression.