"Ready-to-use" two-week home exercise program targeting depressive symptoms: pilot study

Abstract

Exercise is an evidence-based treatment for depressive symptoms, yet it often requires specialised knowledge, equipment, or professional supervision. Lay people in certain contexts, for example in remote locations or under pandemic restrictions, often lack these resources and thus cannot use exercise to manage their depressive symptoms. We developed a two-week home exercise program that bypasses these barriers and tested it in university students during pandemic restrictions. In an online study, we recruited 49 participants to complete a week of baseline symptom monitoring then follow the exercise program for 2 weeks (6 sessions) at home. The exercise program involved aerobic and resistance training; each session lasted approximately 45 min. After 2 weeks of the intervention, participants reported lower depressive (standardised $\beta$ = -0.71 [-1.05, -0.38]) and anxiety ($\beta$ = -0.87 [-1.19, -0.55]) symptoms. Although we cannot make causal conclusions, our results suggest that the brief home exercise program may have potential to reduce depressive symptoms in young adults.

Keywords: COVID-19; depression; exercise; interventions; university students.

Figure 1

Participants (N = 49) reported large reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms after following the exercise intervention for two weeks. The reductions were similar across the two groups. Dots show means, shaded regions show 95% confidence intervals.