MHPA：英研究称散步有助缓解抑郁

是否感到有些抑郁？试试散步吧。这是许多医学专家推荐的治疗轻度抑郁的方法。英国一项最新研究再次支持了散步在缓解抑郁方面的有效性。相关论文发表在《精神健康与身体运动》（Mental Health and Physical Activity ）杂志上。

英国斯特林大学等机构的研究人员报告说，他们对过去有关抑郁和散步的大量研究进行综合整理和分析，从中挑选出300多名适合对比分析的抑郁患者的数据，最终得出的结论是散步在帮助治疗抑郁方面的确有效。

据介绍，医学界早就知道运动有助于治疗抑郁，对一些轻度抑郁患者来说，常见的医疗建议不是服用抗抑郁药，而是试试运动的效果。但是散步这种强度不大的运动是否也有类似的效果，过去相关研究的结果不完全一致。本次综合性文献回顾的结果支持了散步的有效性。不过研究人员也表示，对散步功效的一些细节还需要深入研究，比如对某种程度的抑郁患者来说，要通过散步达到较好的效果，需要每天散步多长时间、最佳的步伐速率是多少等，这些问题都还尚待解答。

doi:10.1016/j.mhpa.2012.03.002
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Walking for depression or depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Roma Robertsona, , , Ann R.R. Robertsonb, , Ruth Jepsona, , Margaret Maxwell

Problem

Depression is a common disorder worldwide. Most patients are treated within primary care and antidepressant treatment is not recommended for people with mild depression. Physical activity has been shown to alleviate depression but it is not known whether the less vigorous activity of walking – a potentially widely acceptable and safe intervention - confers such benefit.

Method

Eleven databases were systematically searched for randomised controlled trials of walking as a treatment intervention for depression, from database inception until January 2012. Meta-analyses were carried out on all trials eligible for inclusion and on sub-groups of outdoor, indoor and group walking.

Results

Of the 14,672 articles retrieved, eight trials met the inclusion criteria. The pooled standardised mean difference (effect size) was -0.86 [-1.12, -0.61] showing that walking has a statistically significant, large effect on symptoms of depression. However, there was considerable heterogeneity amongst the interventions and research populations and it is uncertain whether the results can be generalised to specific populations such as primary care patients.

Conclusions

Walking has a statistically significant, large effect on the symptoms of depression in some populations, but the current evidence base from randomised, controlled trials is limited. Thus, while walking is a promising treatment for depression or depressive symptoms with few, if any, contraindications, further investigations to establish the frequency, intensity, duration and type(s) of effective walking interventions particularly in primary care populations would be beneficial for providing further recommendations to clinical practitioners.