Is exercise as effective as treatments for depression and anxiety?
by The Economist · Australian Financial ReviewThe Economist
May 10, 2026 – 5.00am
For those in the doldrums, few things are more tiresome than being told to exercise. But unwelcome advice is not necessarily wrong. Study after study has found that exercise boosts mood and reduces anxiety. Two large analyses published earlier this year go further, suggesting it works about as well as therapy or antidepressants.
The first, published in January by researchers based across Britain and Ireland, took the form of a Cochrane review – a well-regarded meta-analysis of healthcare research. It pooled the results of 69 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted to measure the effects of exercise on depression. The second paper, published in February in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, was a so-called meta-meta-analysis. It drew on more than 1000 trials involving nearly 80,000 participants. Both concluded that exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety by roughly as much as conventional treatments.
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