Resistance training → Depression
Higher Resistance training decreases Depression.
Eight weeks of twice-weekly supervised resistance training lowered QIDS scores versus wait-list in 55 young adults. Depression was a secondary read of two anxiety-primary randomized trials.
Randomized trial · Moderate · N=55
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Read the caveats.
Mechanism
The assigned work is WHO and ACSM muscle-strengthening: two sets of eight to twelve repetitions, eight lifts, twice a week, about twenty-five minutes, load set by the investigator. Sessions were one-on-one in a university gym. A three-week familiarization came first. O'Sullivan, Gordon, Lyons, Meyer, and Herring pooled two parallel wait-list trials (NCT04116944). The primary files measured analogue GAD. This paper reads the 16-item self-report Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology at baseline, week one, week four, and week eight. QIDS fell from 8.7 to 2.8 under training and from 8.0 to 7.0 on the wait-list. The between-group Hedges' d at week eight was 1.01 (95 percent CI 0.44 to 1.57). The analogue-MDD slice (QIDS of 6 or more) was 1.71. Intention-to-treat was 0.88. Total strength rose about 23 percent. That change did not move with mood (r = -0.12). The authors list monoamines, the stress response, inflammation, and IGF-1 as candidate pathways. They also say a wait-list cannot hold attention, social contact, mastery, or expectancy still. A first drop was already visible after familiarization. Among people who started at or above the analogue-MDD cut, 18 of 19 on training were below it at week eight, against 4 of 18 on wait-list. That is a QIDS threshold, not a structured interview.
Caveats
The control is a wait-list. People on the list filled weekly surveys and were offered the program later. They did not get a matched hour of attention. The authors name social interaction, mastery, and expectation as leftover explanations. SMILE II's placebo pill is a different contrast, and it lives on the aerobic edge. This is a secondary analysis. Participants were screened for analogue GAD, not recruited for depression. Ten people were already on depression treatment. Four finished, two in each arm. People missing more than one QIDS were dropped from the complete-case file; intention-to-treat kept the same direction. The sample is 55 people, mean age 26, 36 women, a university gym. Baseline QIDS sat in the mild range for the full sample. Analogue MDD here means a QIDS of 6 or more. The depression node can carry a named scale. It is not SMILE's DSM-IV interview. There was no follow-up after week eight. The outcome is self-report. Attendance was 83 percent. Compliance was 80 percent. Omitted: Blumenthal SMILE, Babyak, SMILE II, Brush 2022, and Yu 2023. Those assigned walking or jogging. They sit on aerobic exercise to depression. This page is a journal entry. It is not medical advice and it is not a reason to start or stop a treatment.
Effect
cohens_d = 1.01. O'Sullivan 2023: Hedges' d 1.01 [0.44-1.57] QIDS vs wait-list at week 8 (n=55). AMDD d=1.71; ITT d=0.88. Strength change uncorrelated (r=-0.12).
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Resistance training → Depression.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-training-depression (atlas updated 2026-09-02).
Papers
- Effects of resistance exercise training on depressive symptoms among young adults: A randomized controlled trial.
D O'Sullivan, BR Gordon, M Lyons, JD Meyer, MP Herring · 2023 · Psychiatry research