Exercise can treat depression, say Scottish doctors

AN EXERCISE programme which was initially set up to help Scots at risk from heart disease has now been found to help patients with depression and anxiety.

The Glasgow exercise referral scheme is a partnership between Greater Glasgow Health Board and Glasgow City Council, which runs the local leisure centres where personal exercise programmes for patients are devised.

Since it started in 1997, more than 3000 patients have been signed up to the scheme, most of them showing signs of anxiety and depression. Avril Blamey, of Greater Glasgow Health Board's health promotion department, which has just completed a study of the scheme, said: "We are now beginning to see the results from the patients who have taken part and it would appear that most are feeling the benefit from exercising, both physically and mentally." Years of being plagued by arthritis, chest pains and depression had left Glasgow grandmother Ruth McKenzie feeling as though her useful life had come to an end. "I asked my doctor, 'Is this it, is this all I have left?'"said the 57-year-old from Knightswood. Her GP's solution was to prescribe her exercise and McKenzie was enrolled on the local exercise referral scheme. She hasn't looked back. Now she is three stones lighter, enjoys yoga and aqua-aerobics, and is able to accompany her two grandsons on bicycle rides. "More than anything my self-esteem has been given a boost," said the former dance teacher. "I have gone from feeling of no use to anyone to becoming a totally different person." At first the scheme was intended for use by people at high risk of heart disease. But it has also been shown to be effective in treating depression. Partick GP Dr Joseph McConnell said: "When people become more active it seems to improve their minds as well as their physical well-being. For patients with mild depression there are definite benefits. But I wouldn't recommend it for someone suffering from severe depression as it would be difficult to motivate them into going to something like this." In Glasgow two-thirds of participants in the exercise referral scheme are women, 24% are unemployed, 78% classed as overweight and 70% on some form of medication. "Most people say it has made a huge difference to their lives and wish they had taken up exercise years ago," said Kerry Todd, a consultant at the Easterhouse exercise referral scheme. Dr Nanette Mutrie, a senior lecturer at Glasgow University's centre for exercise, science and medicine, has studied the effects of exercise on depression. "Exercise causes chemical changes in the body which are very like the action of the anti-depressant drugs that operate on serotonin in the brain and make us feel better," she explained. "Potentially, exercise has the same kind of effect." If that could be proved, exercise referral schemes could lead to fewer people being prescribed anti-depressant drugs, Dr Mutrie said, and she hopes to secure funding to carry out a study involving a large group of people. "Not everyone who suffers from depression wants to take drugs, and exercise could be a real alternative."

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