Patients suffering from depression may benefit more by putting on their gym shoes than reaching for the bottle of antidepressant pills. A new study published in the September/October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine suggests regular exercise can have longer-lasting benefits than taking antidepressant medication.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., studied 150 people, all over age 50, who had been diagnosed with depression. They were randomly assigned to take one of three treatments for four months: the popular antidepressant Zoloft, exercise classes, or a combination of the two. At the end of four months, all three groups showed lower rates of depression.

But when researchers checked in again on these folks six months later, those who had exercised only had a lower rate of depression relapse than those taking Zoloft or taking the antidepressant and exercising. For each 50-minute increment of exercise, there was an accompanying 50 percent reduction in relapse risk, researchers say. "And if these motivated patients continue with their exercise, they have a much better chance of not seeing their depression return," says researcher James A. Blumenthal.

Other studies have shown exercise's effectiveness against depression. This latest study will now be expanded to try to determine how exercise produces such antidepressant effects.

--By Katrina Woznicki