Any exercise mode eases depression and anxiety

Exercise is known to reduce physiological and psychological symptoms associated with depression and anxiety, but a practical question has lingered: does the type of exercise matter? Aerobic work, resistance training and combinations of the two place very different demands on people, and someone struggling with their mental health needs to know whether the choice between them is consequential. This review focused specifically on adults with a formal diagnosis of depression or anxiety, rather than people with milder or self-reported symptoms, which makes the question clinically sharper.

Following PRISMA guidelines, the authors searched five electronic databases up to 24 February 2024 for randomised controlled trials of aerobic or resistance exercise in adults diagnosed with depression or anxiety. Studies had to pass quality appraisal standards and the established inclusion criteria. Thirty-two randomised controlled trials with 3,243 participants met the criteria for the systematic review, and 26 studies with 2,681 participants provided data suitable for random-effects meta-analysis. Effects were pooled as standardised mean differences for depressive and anxiety symptoms separately.

Across the 25 studies assessing depressive symptoms, the pooled standardised mean difference favoured exercise with a large magnitude of effect (-0.97, 95% CI -1.28 to -0.66). Across the 11 studies reporting anxiety outcomes, exercise showed a significant moderate effect (-0.66, 95% CI -1.09 to -0.23). No individual study excessively influenced either result. The review concluded that aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, or a mixture of the two are all beneficial for improving symptoms of depression and anxiety, without identifying one mode as clearly superior.

These findings strengthen the case that exercise is a genuinely effective adjunct for diagnosed depression and anxiety, with an effect size for depression that is large by conventional standards. The absence of a clear winner between modes is itself informative: it suggests the benefit is not tied to one specific type of training. Open questions remain about optimal dose, intensity and duration, and the anxiety evidence rests on fewer studies than the depression evidence, so it is the less settled of the two results.

For a reader managing low mood or anxiety, this is a reason to think that movement itself matters more than the specific format — trials of aerobic, resistance and combined programmes all pointed in the same direction. That flexibility is arguably the most useful part of the finding, because the most effective exercise is realistically the one a person will actually keep doing. This evidence describes symptom improvement in trial populations; it is informational, and not a substitute for professional care.