If you are one of the people who has been able to keep their resolution to exercise more in 2026, you may be experiencing a better mental outlook along with your improved physical health. That's because a Cochrane review by researchers from the University of Lancashire in England has found that exercise has the ability to lower depression symptoms similar to psychological therapy.

Depression is thought to affect more than 280 million people worldwide and it is the leading cause of ill health and disability. Exercise is an attractive option for those who suffer because it can be done for little to no cost, is widely available and also comes with additional health benefits.

Researchers looked at a total of 73 randomized controlled trials that included almost 5,000 people suffering from depression. The studies looked at how results varied through interventions such as exercise, psychological therapies, antidepressant medication and no treatment.

Exercise was shown to have a "moderate" benefit in reducing depressive symptoms, which was similar to psychological therapy. The results were also similar to those on antidepressants, but researchers said the evidence was of low certainty because of a small dataset.

Additionally, the side effects recorded for exercise were rare and included things such as occasional injuries. Those taking antidepressants reported some medicine-related side effects such as fatigue and gastrointestinal problems.

“Our findings suggest that exercise appears to be a safe and accessible option for helping to manage symptoms of depression,” said professor Andrew Clegg, lead author of the review. “This suggests that exercise works well for some people, but not for everyone, and finding approaches that individuals are willing and able to maintain is important.”

The review showed that light to moderate exercise was more beneficial than vigorous exercise in alleviating depression symptoms. Although no one exercise was singled out as being better than another, a mix of resistance and aerobic exercise appeared to be better than aerobic exercise alone.

“Exercise can help people with depression, but if we want to find which types work best, for who and whether the benefits last over time, we still need larger, high-quality studies,“ Clegg said. “One large, well-conducted trial is much better than numerous poor quality small trials with limited numbers of participants in each.”

Click here to read more in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.