Good nutrition and exercise as treatment for mild to moderate depression, study says

Lifestyle therapy that includes nutritional counseling and exercise is just as effective as traditional psychotherapy for reducing mild depression, according to a new study.

Researchers at Deakin University’s Center for Food and Nutrition say their world-first research shows dietitians and exercise professionals can be trained and redeployed to become part of the workforce. mental health, to help reduce labor shortages.

Researchers assigned 182 people with mild to moderate depression to either lifestyle therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy. Because the study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, these group sessions were offered online.

Each health treatment session was delivered by a nutritionist and exercise specialist who provided participants with evidence-based advice on moving more each day and improve their diet according to the modified Mediterranean diet. Participants were also given a Fitbit to encourage health tracking.

The other group received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is considered the gold standard of mental health care, given by two psychologists.. Treatment included techniques to manage unwanted thoughts and behaviors, and participants were given workbooks and relaxation products such as stress balls.

Professor Adrienne O’Neil, the lead author, said “everything about the two treatments was matched in terms of frequency, length, condition, group size”.

“The only thing that was different was that the doctors came from different disciplinary backgrounds, and of course, its content.”

At the end of eight weeks, lifestyle participants had a 42% reduction in their depressive symptoms compared to a 37% reduction in depressive symptoms among psychotherapy participants.

The report also includes a cost analysis showing that the lifestyle program was slightly less expensive due to the difference in hourly rates for dietitians and physical therapists compared to professionals. of the mind.

While other trials have looked at the effects of exercise in combination with treatments such as antidepressants, O’Neil said this was the first time researchers tested nutritional therapy combined with exercise and found compared to CBT.

“Unlike other areas of medicine, such as cardiology, endocrinology or diabetes care, where lifestyle changes are really the basis of self-care, they are typically considered healthy. of psychology and psychology as a supplement,” O’Neil said.

But in recent years and with the publication of this case, we can have greater confidence that it is now a fundamental part of good mental health care.

He is now conducting an experiment to see if the interventions have the same effect on those with severe mental health conditions.

Scarlett Smout, research assistant at the University of Sydney The Matilda Center for Mental Health and Addiction Research, says that if the research was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, “we would like to see these results replicated when the participants were not involved in confinement or relative restrictions”.

The trial sample was also relatively small and skewed toward women — as the study authors also noted, the findings will need to be replicated in a larger study, Smout said.

He also says it’s also important not to make over-the-top additions like “changing your diet [without expert advice] just as helpful as seeing a psychologist”.

“Importantly, this study does not suggest that people seeking mental health care should be sent to manage their mental health through lifestyle changes.”

But Smout, who was not involved in the study, says the findings are promising.

“I think the authors’ suggestion that allied health professionals can be developed to provide mental health services is exciting for the broader mental health workforce,” Smout said.

“The ideal situation would be for people to receive both types of mental health care (lifestyle and psychotherapy), not one or the other.”