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. 2025 Apr 10:16:1570681.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1570681. eCollection 2025.

Leisure time exercise and depressive symptoms in sedentary workers: exploring the effects of exercise volume and social context

Jianjiang Zhang  1 , Jiyang Yang  2 , Siping Chen  3 , Chan Feng  1 , Shaoying Wang  1
Affiliations

Leisure time exercise and depressive symptoms in sedentary workers: exploring the effects of exercise volume and social context

Jianjiang Zhang et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Workers in sedentary occupations often engage in prolonged periods of low physical activity, which may be associated with depressive symptoms. Leisure-time exercise plays a significant role in alleviating these symptoms. Previous studies have shown that adults who engage in physical exercise report fewer depressive symptoms than those who do not. However, the relationship between exercise volume and mental health remains inconsistent. Leisure-time exercise can be categorized into individual and group exercise. Despite its potential importance, little is known about the differential effects of individual and group exercise on depressive symptoms in sedentary occupational populations. The objective of this study was to analyze the association between leisure-time exercise volume and depressive symptoms in sedentary workers, as well as to evaluate the disparities in the effects of individual and group exercise on depressive symptoms.

Methods: From September to October 2024, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect data from sedentary workers. The participants' sociodemographic characteristics, exercise patterns, exercise volume, and depressive symptoms were gathered. Chi-square tests and hierarchical logistic regression were employed to analyze the obtained data.

Results: Of the 1,277 respondents, 13.16% reported depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher in those with low exercise volume than in those with medium or high exercise volume. Medium and high exercise volumes were associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms, with odds ratios (OR) of 0.517 and 0.559, respectively. Group exercisers reported fewer depressive symptoms than individual exercisers, with an OR of 0.624.

Conclusion: The benefits of leisure-time exercise on depressive symptoms in sedentary workers do not always increase with higher exercise volume. Additionally, sedentary workers who participated in group exercise exhibited a lower risk of depressive symptoms than those who participated in individual exercise.

Keywords: depressive symptoms; group exercise; individual exercise; leisure-time exercise; sedentary workers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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