Exercise and depression

Rather depressing itself article in The Guardian (UK) today about a study which found that exercise was not an effective treatment for depression. This goes against most of the former evidence the article can be found here.  There is a bit of a follow up discussion here as well.  The original study can is in the BMJ.  The thing about science is it is all about accepting the best evidence even if it goes against what you would like it to be, and for the moment this appears to be the best evidence! Here is a look at possible shortcomings in the study which made shed some light at the findings.

Are we eating too much or exercising too little?

Obesity in Britain: gluttony or sloth? Often when I talk to people regarding weight loss or physical activity I steer them towards this paper. It puts forward the case that we are actually consuming less calories than 20 years ago. The obesity crisis is caused largely by our lack of, or reduction of physical activity in the same period. Although counter arguments and papers exist, I like this as generally it causes people to stop and think about how much physical activity they do, and about the diminishing opportunity in everyday life to take part in physical activity. The paper can be found here.