Islamabad (Pakistan Point News / Online - 16th February, 2020) Researchers already know that physical activity can help lower the risk of depression in adults. A new study suggests that active young adolescents are less likely to experience symptoms of depression by age 18, compared with their sedentary peers.Active 12-year-olds are less likely to experience symptoms of depression by age 18 than their more sedentary peers, a new study suggests.
"Our findings show that young people who are inactive for large proportions of the day throughout adolescence face a greater risk of depression by age 18," notes Aaron Kandola, a graduate student at University College London, in the United Kingdom.Light activity tied to lower depressionThe team analyzed data from 4,257 participants enrolled in the University of Bristol's Children of the 90s cohort study. Specifically, they looked at information collected when the participants were ages 12, 14, and 16.
The information included data regarding physical activity recorded through accelerometers that the adolescents had agreed to wear for at least 10 hours over a minimum of 3 days.Thanks to the accelerometers, the researchers were able to find out whether the children had engaged in light activity, moderate-to-vigorous activity, or whether they had led largely sedentary lives.�Easy to fit into daily routines'The team also identified some associations between engaging in moderate-to-vigorous activity and lower depression scores in late adolescence. However, they caution that they did not have enough data to establish the strength of this association.Overall, because the study was observational, the investigators acknowledge that they cannot claim the existence of a causal relationship between levels of physical activity and the occurrence of depression symptoms.
