Yet Another Study Shows Exercise Reduces Symptoms of Depression
By Ken Reed
The mental health benefits of exercise have been lauded for quite a while now. Regular exercisers can attest to the stress-and-anxiety-reducing benefits of cardiovascular exercise.
A recent study from Germany, published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, highlights how exercise helps the depressed brain. The study adds to the growing mound of research touting the mental health benefits of regular exercise.
The German research out of Ruhr-Universitat Bochum’s Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy showed a three-week physical activity intervention supports the remission of major depressive disorders (MDD). The exercise program also restored neuroplasticity in the subjects’ brains.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s capacity to adapt or change over time, by creating new neurons and building new networks.
Participants undergoing treatment for depression were divided into two groups – exercisers and non-exercisers. The exercisers were given a three-week physical activity program.
The exercise group had much lower scores than the non-exercise group on measures such as negative feelings, pessimism, hopelessness, a loss of passion and desire, and lack of motivation and drive.
“It is known that physical activity does the brain good, as it, for instance, promotes the formation of neuron connections,” said Karin Rosenkranz, the study’s senior author.
The study’s authors concluded by saying:
“[W]e showed that a physical activity (PA) intervention supports the remission of clinical symptoms and normalizes deficient LTP-induced neuroplasticity in MDD and that these two observations are highly correlated.”
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

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Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
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Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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