By Amber Jackson, RN/DCES, IDS Intern
What if there was a prescription that could improve mood, reduce symptoms of depression, enhance mental clarity, boost self-confidence, improve quality of life—and cost nothing?
Let me write you a ‘prescription’ for exercise.
Not punishment. Not perfection. Just fun, enjoyable, and sustainable movement—the kind that fits into real life.
Why Exercise Works
Well-known athletes like LeBron James, Simone Biles, Bethany Hamilton, and Michael Jordan are often remembered for their achievements—but behind many of those successes are stories of hardship, trauma, and depression. Their experiences, along with growing scientific evidence, show that exercise can be a powerful tool in managing depression and turning challenges into motivation.
Depression can look many ways: acute, chronic, seasonal, intermittent, or simply a feeling you can’t yet name. Regardless of where you are, exercise may be part of the answer you’ve been searching for. Now, I am not saying you need to become the next Michael Jordan, but you can become your own version and start winning your life back from depression!
Rethinking “Exercise”
Before tuning this idea out, consider a different perspective.
What if exercise looks like a walk to your favorite coffee shop?
What if it’s stretching in the morning sun or moving your body in a way that feels good—not exhausting?
What if it looks like playing basketball with friends and grabbing ice cream after?
What if it looks like standing at work instead of sitting all day?
It won’t look perfect every day—and it doesn’t need to. Consistent, enjoyable movement is what matters most. Small changes create a huge reaction.
The Science Behind the Prescription
Research consistently shows that exercise is effective in treating depression:
- Increases brain neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine—chemicals often reduced in depression [3]
- Improves neurotransmitter receptor sensitivity, enhancing mood regulation [3]
- Reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, both linked to depressive symptoms [1]
- Lowers cortisol, the body’s “fight-or-flight” stress hormone which directly relates to higher rates of depression [3]
- Improves sleep, including duration, quality, and regularity [1]
- Promotes neurogenesis in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in mood and memory – rewiring your brain in a healthy, positive way [2]
A study completed by Front Psychiatry in 2024 states, “Studies have consistently shown that physical exercise, defined as planned, structured, and repetitive movements to improve one or more aspects of physical fitness, is an effective treatment for depressive disorders” [2].
Exercise creates both immediate and long-term benefits through hormonal, neurological, and inflammatory pathways [1,3]. Although antidepressants are beneficial in the short term, they don’t hold the long-term benefits that exercise brings to the table.
Why Exercise Helps Mentally
Traditional self-focused approaches like journaling and talk-therapy are effective—but exercise adds something unique: distraction with purpose.
Movement helps get you out of your head. It builds confidence by breaking limits, discovering new strengths, and facing fears. This increase in self-efficacy plays a powerful role in lifting the “depressive fog” [1].
Making the Prescription Stick…
Patients with depression are often sedentary and may lack motivation to begin—or continue—an exercise routine. That’s why this prescription is so often left unfilled.
Let’s make it easier.
Research shows that frequency matters more than duration or intensity when building a habit. A realistic starting point:
- 20 minutes per session
- 3 times per week
- Moderate intensity
- Focus on expressive, enjoyable movement and let the rest go!
Walking or jogging, yoga, and strength training have shown particular benefits—but you don’t need to start intensely for exercise to make a meaningful difference [3].
Low and slow still counts. And it still works.
Let’s Do This Together
A Clinicians guidance and encouragement play a major role in helping patients adopt exercise habits.
Follow-up’s—whether through brief check-ins, phone calls, or automated reminders—has been shown to significantly improve adherence.
Exercise isn’t just movement.
It’s medicine.
And it works best when we take it together.
IDS has a specialty service designed specifically for helping you design and implement a personalized ‘exercise prescription.’
Visit us and feel the change immediately!
References:
[1] Craft, L. L., & Perna, F. M. (2004). The Benefits of Exercise for the Clinically Depressed. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry, 6(3), 104–111. https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.v06n0301
[2] Hwang, D. J., Koo, J. H., Kim, T. K., Jang, Y. C., Hyun, A. H., Yook, J. S., Yoon, C. S., & Cho, J. Y. (2023). Exercise as an antidepressant: exploring its therapeutic potential. Frontiers in psychiatry, 14, 1259711. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1259711
[3] Thompson, D. (2026, January 8). Depressed? Exercise works as well as talk therapy, antidepressants, evidence suggests. HealthDay. Retrieved from https://www.healthday.com/health-news/mental-health/depressed-exercise-works-as-well-as-talk-therapy-antidepressants-evidence-suggests
