Depression is a midlife fitness crisis

You might not feel it now since you are young, but as you grow older, it would be harder for you to do certain things such as running, walking and a lot more. Well, at least you are going to slowdown from the usual things that you does. When you hit a plateau, that is middle life for you and you need to be fit in order to do most of the things that you are doing tight now. This is why you would need to condition your body and workout every now and then when you are young.

Apparently, how fit you are right now would have something to say about depression and mortality that is associated with cardiovascular disease.

What is depression?

Depression is a mood disorder characterized by persistently low mood and a feeling of sadness and loss of interest. It is a persistent problem, not a passing one, lasting on average 6 to 8 months, as per Medical News Today.

The study

This single-center, retrospective cohort study included 17,989 individuals, 80.2% of whom were men. There were 2701 cases of depression, 610 cases of CVD death, and 231 CVD deaths following observed depression. Compared with low fitness, a healthy level of fitness during midlife showed strong associations with reduced risk for depression (hazard ratio [HR] 0.84; 95% CI 0.74-0.95), reduced risk for CVD mortality with no prior depression (HR 0.39; 95% CI, 0.31-0.48), and reduced risk for CVD mortality following a depression diagnosis (HR 0.44; 95% CI, 0.31-0.64).

The mean age of participants in this study was 50.0 (SD 8.7) years, and they received Medicare follow-up for an equivalent of 117,218 person-years. Individuals were largely healthy, and those included in the study reported no previous myocardial infarction, depression, or stroke. All underwent preventative medical evaluations during midlife. The participants’ fitness levels were estimated using exercise testing on treadmills. The study was part of the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study, which collected data between 1971 and 2009.

The study researchers concluded that “[midlife] fitness is associated with a lower risk for later-life depression, CVD mortality, and CVD mortality after incident later-life depression. These findings suggest the importance of midlife fitness in primary prevention of depression and subsequent CVD mortality in older age and should encourage physicians to consider fitness and physical activity in promoting healthy aging.”

Source: Medical News Today, Psychiatry Advisor