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REVIEW article

Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Emotion Regulation and Processing
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1479326

Efficacy of Vigorous Physical Activity as an Intervention for Mitigating Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Provisionally accepted
Wei Yang Wei Yang Huijing Chen Huijing Chen Wei Liu Wei Liu Sheng Qu Sheng Qu Yao Ge Yao Ge Jin Song Jin Song *
  • Wuhan Mental Health Center, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of vigorous physical activity as an intervention for alleviating depressive symptoms among adolescents and young adults.Methods: A comprehensive search on systematically reliable databases was carried out, and studies running till August 2023 were considered in this study. The articles included in this meta-analysis assessed the impact of exercise interventions on depressive symptomatology in adolescents and young adults. Two independent investigators screened the studies, extracted data, and evaluated quality.[SMD] = -4.23, 95% CI: -7.02, -1.44, p = 0.0001; a moderate effect size in both the adolescent population with clinical depression and adolescents who presented with subclinical depressive symptoms. Notably, vigorous physical exercise worked most favorably for adolescent depressive symptomatology, while moderate-intensity exercise was the best choice for adolescents with diagnosed clinical depression.This meta-analysis suggests that vigorous physical activity could reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults. However, further studies are needed to provide clearer recommendations regarding the type, duration, and intensity of exercise necessary to treat clinical depression in this population.

    Keywords: Adolescent, Depression, Meta-analysis, physical activity, randomized controlled trial, Systematic review

    Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Chen, Liu, Qu, Ge and Song. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jin Song, Wuhan Mental Health Center, Wuhan, 430015, Hubei Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.