Mental health patients with depression and aerobic exercise (brisk walking) is an exciting topic because it has a lot of evidence-based research that can help those with depression. Depression is not merely a momentary case of the blues. It’s a severe medical condition that affects one in five adults at some point in their lives. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 9% of Americans (26.4 million) suffer from significant depression. The condition is highly treatable, but many people don’t seek help because they’re unaware of its symptoms or how to get treatment. This evidence-based research will help those who have depression by assisting them to get the most out of their lives and ensure they do not hurt themselves or others.
The first thing to note is that many different types of exercise can be used to help with depression. For example, brisk walking has been proven to be very effective in helping people who suffer from depression. Brisk walking has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to help people who suffer from depression because it releases endorphins into the brain, which makes you feel happier, more relaxed, and calmer. Also, because it helps your heart rate go up, it makes you sweat more, which releases endorphins into your system, as well as helping your body lose weight if you are overweight or obese, which helps with both physical and mental health issues.
The patient population I am targeting is a geriatric population with depression. The specific question I will be answering is, what is the effectiveness of aerobic exercise (brisk walking) in treating depression in patients over 65? This question will be answered by reviewing the literature and forming conclusions based on the results of my findings. I am conducting this research because there is a lack of studies on this specific population and their treatment options. It would be beneficial to determine if aerobic exercise (brisk walking) is effective in treating depression in this age group and, if so, how effective it is compared to other treatments for depression. My PICOT question is: To what extent does aerobic exercise (brisk walking) reduce depression symptoms in geriatrics with mild to moderate depression?
The three articles that I discovered were: Yao et al., 2021 – Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Mental Health in Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Frontiers in Psychiatry 12:748257; Gray et al., 2017 – Burns & Grove’s The Practice Of Nursing Research (8th Ed.) St Louis MO Elsevier Saunders ISBN 978-0-323-37758-4; Department of Bioethics and Humanities (2019) Ethics In Medicine University Of Washington.
The search strategy used to locate these three articles was based on the keywords “Aerobic exercise”, “Mental health”, and “Older adults”. This was done using Google Scholar as a search engine. These three articles were found through multiple databases such as PubMed, PsycINFO, etc. I then refined my search by narrowing it down to only include randomized controlled trials about aerobics exercises for older adults with mental health problems.
Conclusively, the results of this study show that aerobic exercise can improve mental health in older adults. The findings suggest that aerobic exercise may be an effective intervention for improving the mental health of older adults. It provides a safe, inexpensive and convenient way to reduce stress and anxiety levels in older adults. In addition, it also improves their cognitive functioning and memory. However, further research is needed to confirm these findings and determine the optimal frequency and duration of aerobic exercise for improving mental health in older adults.
References
Department of Bioethics and Humanities (2019). Ethics in medicine (Links to an external site.). University of Washington. [Website]. Retrieved from https://depts.washington.edu/bhdept/ethics-medicine.
Gray, J. R., Grove, S. K. & Sutherland, S. (2017). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (8th ed.) . St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders. ISBN 978-0-323-37758-4
Yao, L., Fang, H., Leng, W., Li, J., & Chang, J. (2021). Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Mental Health in Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.748257
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