Exercising, commuting or even sleeping instead of watching television could significantly slash the risk of depression in midlife, research has suggested.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 280million people have depression. Mental illness costs England around £300bn a year, equivalent to nearly double its NHS budget.
But now researchers say replacing just an hour of TV with other activities, such as sports, leisure or commuting-related physical activity or even sleep, could reduce the risk of developing major depression.
Replacing even just half-an-hour of sedentary TV time with sports was shown to reduce the risk of depression by 18 per cent.
And in older adults, this simple swap cut the risk by nearly 30 per cent.
A similar reduction in depression risk was seen when an hour of TV was replaced with sleep.
Publishing their findings in the journal European Psychiatry, the researchers said: ‘These findings support promoting diverse physical activities in this age group.
‘Reducing TV time may be a particularly effective public health strategy for middle-aged and older adults.’
Replacing an hour of daily TV with sports, sleep, or other activities can significantly lower the risk of major depression—especially in middle age, scientists say
They added: ‘While no significant effects were found in young adults, encouraging an active lifestyle remains important, as early physical activity predicts future behaviour.’
Experts have warned for years that sedentary lifestyles can increase the risk of a number of serious health issues including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer and even premature death.
Now the team from the University of Groningen say it’s not just about the amount of time spent stationary; mentally passive activities, like watching TV, may increase the risk of depression, possibly due to dopamine dysregulation, greater consumption of unhealthy foods and social isolation.
A recent review found that every extra hour of TV was associated with a 5 per cent increased risk of depression.
‘Therefore, targeting TV watching, rather than total sedentary time, may offer a more specific and effective basis for interventions,’ the team concluded.
They were particularly interested in how the association is moderated by age – with younger adults typically engaging in less sedentary behaviour and more in physical activities than middle-aged and older adults.
To come to these findings, the researchers analysed data from 65,454 Dutch adults enrolled on the Lifelines study.
Participants, who were free of depression at the beginning of the study, were followed for four years.
Playing sport instead of watching TV for just half an hour a a day could slash your risk of depression
They recorded how much time they spent on active commuting, leisure exercise, sports, household chores, physical activity at work or school, watching TV and sleeping.
Diagnoses of major depression – defined by the NHS as lasting feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy and feeling very tearful – were determined using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview.
The interview assess two core symptoms of the mood disorder – consistent depression and the reduced ability to experience pleasure – and seven related symptoms including sleep disturbances, loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating.
Major depression is diagnosed when at least one core symptom and a total of five symptoms have been consistently present over the past two weeks.
They found that for middle-aged adults, reallocating just an hour of TV watching to other activities, decreased the likelihood of being diagnosed with major depression by 20 per cent.
Increasing this to 90 minutes resulted in a 29 per cent reduction, and two hours of other activities instead of watching TV reduced the risk by an impressive 43 per cent.
The researchers noted that all reallocations of TV-watching time to specific activities were associated with reduced depression risk, except for reallocating just half an hour to household activities.
When reallocating this time to sporting activities, however, depression risk dropped by 18 per cent. Spending less time watching TV and more time commuting reduced the risk by 8 per cent.
But choosing to play sport over watching TV for any given time, resulted in the largest reductions in depression risk.
In older adults, swapping TV for other activities, with the exception of sport, did not lead to statically significant reductions in depression rates.
The researchers said this could be because the social aspect of sport may offer added protection against loneliness, which is a significant risk factor for depression.
They concluded: ‘Confirming these findings in a larger sample of older adults would be valuable, as it may help identify a broader range of effective activity types for reducing the risk of depression in later life.’
For example, whilst sleeping for longer in place of watching TV slashed depression rates in middle-aged people – possibly reflecting unmet needs due to the high work related demands experienced by this age group – the same was not true for older adults.
It comes as research published earlier this week suggested aerobic exercise such as running, swimming or dancing should be considered a frontline treatment for mild depression and anxiety.
Scientists reviewed 63 studies on exercise and mental health and found that some of the greatest improvements were observed in young adults and new mothers – two of the most vulnerable groups.
The WHO recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week — or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.
Sedentary lifestyles in the UK, with Britons spending their workhours deskbound, then sitting in a train or car on their way home to sit down in front of the TV, have been estimated to kill thousands each year.
The WHO puts the annual global death toll from physical inactivity at around 2million per year, making it in the running to be among the top 10 leading causes of global death and disability.
