Getting your steps in can reduce depression, research finds

Feeling down? Taking a walk could help, new research shows.

The more steps we take, the less likely we are to feel depressed, according to a JAMA Network Open paper published in December.

Researchers analyzed 33 studies examining the movements of nearly 100,000 adults using smartphones, pedometers and other fitness trackers. Those who clocked more daily steps were less likely to report depressive symptoms or be diagnosed with the condition than those who walked less.

“It’s promising evidence that even small amounts of movement can add up to support better mental health,” said Karmel Choi, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved with the meta-analysis.

Participants ranged in age from 18 to 91 years old and lived in 13 different countries. Those who logged at least 5,000 or more daily steps were less likely to experience depressive symptoms, with the greatest effect coming for those who logged more than 7,500 steps a day — they were 42% less likely to suffer depressive symptoms.

“Studies like these are encouraging because they’re not saying that you have to be a marathon runner or go to a really intense class, but you can accumulate the type of movement that’s beneficial for your mental health in more gentle ways,” said Choi.

A subset of studies included in the meta-analysis found that for every 1,000 daily step increase, adults reduced their risk of developing depression by 9%.

“Setting goals for the number of daily steps may be a promising and inclusive public health strategy for the prevention of depression,” the authors of the meta-analysis write. The study was led by Dr. Estela Jiménez López of the Health and Social Research Center at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain.

The studies included in the new meta-analysis excluded people with depression at the time of enrollment and may not pertain to people already diagnosed with clinical depression.

Still, previous research has shown that exercise can reduce symptoms in adults with a diagnosis. A 2024 meta-analysis published in The BMJ, another medical research journal, showed that exercise reduced depression to the same extent as antidepressants, and in some cases, exercise worked better. However, for some people, medication, therapy or a mix of both are keys to managing depression.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges adults to get 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity for both physical and mental health benefits. Some adults might have trouble keeping track of what counts as moderate exercise and how much time they spend doing it, Choi said. Tracking your daily steps with a smartphone or wearable device might be easier, she said.

“Choose the metrics that’s most motivating for you,” she advised. “It’s not about putting step counts on a pedestal, but it’s important to think of step counts as just one way to track movement.”

Dr. Evan Brittain, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, finds fitness trackers useful in his cardiology practice because his patients tend to overestimate their physical activity.

“These data are welcome because they start to put numbers that patients can understand to an important condition like depression,” he said of the new study.

More than 330 million people throughout the world suffer from depressive disorders, and a 2019 study showed that 7% of Americans reported moderate or severe symptoms of depression in the previous two weeks.

Prior research has consistently shown that physical activity can protect against the emergence of depression, the authors of the current study write.

“I’m a strong advocate for physical activity in general for my patients,” Brittain said. “I think it has lots of benefits for virtually every organ of the body, and that extends to mood conditions,”

Brittain was not involved in the current research, but his 2022 study examining Fitbit data from more than 6,000 adults was included in the new meta-analysis. His research found that those who walked more than 8,200 steps a day lowered their risk of obesity, sleep apnea, reflux disease and major depressive disorder.

“The message is very consistent: more is better, and some is better than none,” he said. “I advise all my patients that we’re not asking you to run a marathon. Taking a walk is beneficial in itself.”