Exercise: The key to warding off depression and type 2 diabetes

If I told you there was a therapy that had been shown to relieve depression while also improving blood sugar control in type 2 diabetics, would you be interested? 
 
What if I told you the side effects of this non-drug therapy were minimal and the cost was within easy reach of virtually every budget would you be interested then? 
 
And if I told you this therapy was chocolate, would you faithfully walk down to your local newsagents every day, purchase a box of chocolates, walk home, and eat them? 
 
If you answered yes, then just follow the regimen described above, leave out the chocolate, and you'll be on your way to improved health guaranteed.  
 
Motivation on a platter  
 
Sometimes I feel the need to put a sugar coating on what is arguably the best thing you can do to promote good health. That's right I'm talking about the 'e' word. Most people would rather hear the 'c' word, but the fact is, a daily regimen of chocolate is far from healthy, while a regimen that includes daily (brace yourself I'm going to say it) exercise may do more to improve your health and keep you healthy than any other single preventive measure. 
 
So if you need some assistance to keep you on track with daily exercise, I'll tell you about two recent studies that might help provide much-needed motivation. 
 
We'll begin in Canada where researchers at the University of Calgary enrolled 251 type 2 diabetics who ranged in age from 39 to 70. Subjects were randomly divided into four groups: 
 
1) An Aerobic Group worked out on exercise bikes and treadmills 45 minutes per session, three sessions per week 
2) A Resistance Training Group worked out with weights 45 minutes per session, three sessions per week 
3) A combined Aerobic and Resistance Training group 45 minutes of each type of exercise, three times per week 
4) A control group did no exercise 
 
After 26 weeks, blood sugar control was improved in the Aerobic Group, and significantly improved in the Resistance Training Group, compared to the control group in which there was no change. In the group that combined aerobics and resistance training, blood sugar control was overwhelmingly improved. 
 
Blood sugar levels were measured by checking hemoglobin A1c levels considered the most accurate method of judging blood sugar changes over long periods. Researchers report that some subjects in the combined exercise group actually brought down their A1c values to a range considered normal.  
 
Group mentality  
 
Now to North Carolina in the US 
 
In what is probably the first clinical trial to measure the effects of exercise against an antidepressant drug AND placebo, researchers at Duke University Medical Center recruited more than 200 adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and divided them into for groups: 
 
1) Supervised group exercise 
2) Home-based exercise 
3) Zoloft 
4) Placebo pill 
 
Before and after the 16-week trial period, subjects underwent clinical interviews to assess depression. Results showed that 47 percent of subjects who took Zoloft achieved remission from MDD, while 45 percent of the group exercise subjects did the same. This is a remarkable outcome, to be able to achieve from group exercise nearly the same results achieved by taking one of the leading antidepressant drugs. 
 
Home-based exercise proved somewhat less effective, with 40 percent achieving MDD remission. Researchers speculate that subjects may be more motivated when participating in group exercise, and may also benefit from the sociability of group participation. In any case, previous research has shown that exercise has a positive effect on certain nervous system chemicals that are also affected by antidepressant drugs minus the adverse side effects, of course. 
 
Speaking of side effects, it should be noted that Zoloft comes with a warning that adverse events have been reported when patients discontinued use of the drug. Events include confusion, dizziness, irritability, insomnia, and paresthesias (described as 'electric shock sensations'). Exercise has adverse events too you might suffer from shin splints or drop a dumbbell on your foot but discontinuation won't give you electric shock sensations.