You will have heard that exercise is good for your physical health, but there is also some pretty good support for its benefits for psychological health. Ben Singh et al. (2023) examined 97 published systematic reviews (with meta-analysis) of research that had looked at the effects of physical activity on symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adult populations. In total, the studies covered 1,039 research trials and 128,119 participants.
The results showed that physical activity alone is highly beneficial for alleviating the symptoms of mild-to-moderate depression, anxiety and distress in people with or without diagnosed mental health disorders. In particular, the median effect sizes for reductions in depression, anxiety and psychological distress were 0.43, 0.26 and 0.42, respectively (i.e. a small effect on people with anxiety but a moderate effect for the others). In comparison, the effect size for reduction in depression via the use of antidepressants is about 0.30 (Cipriani et al. 2018).
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