Does Exercise Work as Well as Antidepressants?

For anyone in the doldrumsin the doldrums: in low spirits; feeling depressed and unmotivated — 情绪低落, few things are more annoying than being told to go for a run. Yet two large studies published in early 2026 suggest that this familiar advice may carry real scientific weight. Both papers report that regular exercise reduces the symptoms of depressiondepression: A mental condition characterised by severe feelings of hopelessness; a period of economic decline. — 抑郁；抑郁症 and anxietyanxiety: A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. — 焦虑；担忧 by roughlyroughly: Approximately; in a way that lacks precision or generally. — 大约；粗略地 as much as talking therapytherapy: Psychotherapy — 心理治疗 or a course of antidepressantsantidepressant: An agent that prevents or counteracts depression — 抗抑郁药. That is a strikingstriking: Making a strong impression — 引人注目的；显著的 claim, and the researchers behind it have their own doubts about how far it can be pushed.

The first paper, released in January by a team based in Britain and Ireland, took the form of a Cochrane reviewCochrane review: a rigorous, internationally trusted type of medical evidence review produced by the Cochrane Collaboration — Cochrane综述（医学循证审查）. It combined the results of 69 randomisedrandomise: To arrange randomly; to make random — 随机化；使随机 controlled trialstrial: An opportunity to test something out; a test — 试验；测试randomised controlled trials: studies in which participants are randomly assigned to a treatment or control group; the highest-quality medical evidence — 随机对照试验 (RCTs) on exercise and depression. The second paper, published the following month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, drew on more than 1,000 trials involving close to 80,000 participantsparticipant: A person who takes part in something. — 参与者. Both concluded that exercise reduces depressivedepressive: Relating to or characteristic of depression — 抑郁的；与抑郁相关的 and anxiousanxious: Feeling worried or uneasy about something with an uncertain outcome. — 焦虑的；担忧的 symptoms about as much as conventionalconventional: Based on or in accordance with what is generally done or believed; traditional. — 传统的；常规的 treatments do.

There are, however, important warnings to attach. A review can only be as reliable as the trials it brings together, and exercise trials are easy to skewskew: To bias or distort in a particular direction — 使（结果）偏倚；扭曲. Participants always know whether they are exercising or not, so their reportedreported: Stated or said to be true by someone; given as one's own account — 据报道的；自述的 mood may be shaped by what they hope the study will show. For this reason, the Cochrane authors rated every trial they looked at as carrying a high risk of biasbias: Inclination towards something; predisposition, partiality, prejudice, preference, predilection — 偏见；偏向；倾向.

The second paper has a different problem. It did not test exercise directly against therapy or drugs. Instead, the results from exercise trials were compared with the results from separate trials of antidepressants. Drug trials, unlike exercise trials, are usually well designed: patients do not know whether they are taking the real pillpill: A small round piece of medicine that you swallow. — 药片；药丸 or a fakefake: Not genuine; made to look real in order to deceive. — 假的；伪造的 one, which produces strong placeboplacebo: A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment — 安慰剂 effectsplacebo effects: improvements that happen because patients believe they are being treated, not because the treatment itself works — 安慰剂效应. That makes it harder for a drug to look clearly better than its comparison. “I don’t think it’s a fair comparison,” says Jonathan Roiser, a professor of neuroscienceneuroscience: the scientific study of the structure and function of the brain and nervous system — 神经科学 at University College London.

Even so, most researchers are confident that exercise helps mood. Aerobicaerobic: Of exercise, performed while maintaining a sufficient supply of oxygen to meet bodily demand — 有氧的（运动） activities like running, walking and cycling appear to be useful in almost every case. For depression, group classes or supervisedsupervised: Done under supervision; watched — 受监督的；有指导的 sessionssession: A period devoted to a particular activity; a meeting or series of meetings. — （活动的）一段时间；会议 tend to work better than exercising alone, and the benefits build up over several months of regular practice. For anxiety, gentler, lower-intensityintensity: the degree or extent to which something is strong, concentrated, or forceful — 强度；烈度 activity seems to deliver the best results.

Why exercise lifts mood is harder to explain. The popular story that running produces a chemical “high” by releasing endorphinsendorphin: Any of a group of peptide hormones found in the brain that act as neurotransmitters and reduce the sensation of pain — 内啡肽, the body’s own painkillerspainkiller: A drug that numbs the pain in the body — 止痛药, has surprisingly little scientific support. A 2021 study blocked the brain receptorsreceptor: A protein on a cell wall that binds with specific molecules so that they can be absorbed into the cell in order to control certain functions — 受体 that endorphins act on, but runners still reported the same good feelings and the same drop in anxiety after a session. Researchers now suspectsuspect: To believe something to be true or probable without certain proof; to distrust someone. — 怀疑；猜想 that other body chemicals, similar to the active parts of cannabiscannabis: A mildly euphoriant or sedating, intoxicating hallucinogenic drug prepared from various parts of cannabis — 大麻（毒品）, are more likely to be behind these short-term boosts.

Several other pathwayspathway: a route or course of action, especially one leading to a particular outcome or destination — 途径；通路 also seem to matter. Exercise appears to reduce inflammationinflammation: A condition of any part of the body, consisting of congestion of the blood vessels, with obstruction of the blood current and a redistribution of leucocytes — 炎症 and to improve brain plasticityplasticity: The quality or state of being plastic — 可塑性；适应能力brain plasticity: the brain's ability to change its structure and connections in response to experience — 脑可塑性, the brain’s ability to rewirerewire: To change the functionality of something by altering the parameters or logic. — 重新调整；重塑（系统） itself. It also increases the activity of dopaminedopamine: A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention, learning, and the brain's pleasure and reward system — 多巴胺, the chemical the brain uses to weigh effort against rewardreward: Something given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement. — 奖励；回报. Raising dopamine may help reversereverse: To change totally; to alter to the opposite — 逆转；颠倒 the loss of motivationmotivation: The reason or reasons for acting in a particular way; desire or willingness to do something. — 动力；动机 that often comes with depression. On top of that, exercise offers real psychologicalpsychological: Relating to the mind or mental processes; affecting or arising from the mind. — 心理的；精神的 rewards: a sense of progressprogress: To move forward or develop towards a better or more advanced state. — 进步；进展, a feeling of being in control, and, in time, a sense of skill. All of these are known to lift mood. Plentyplenty: A more-than-adequate amount — 大量；丰富 of reasons, then, to work up a sweatsweat: Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature — 汗；汗水work up a sweat: to exercise vigorously enough to start sweating — 出一身汗（指做运动）.