Walking
What if it were a drug?
The Frontier Psychiatrists is a daily health-themed newsletter. Today, it’s more health-themed than ever. I’ve been writing a series of articles in the past year—remember 2023? It feels like a lifetime ago!—on drugs1. They all had just the “name of the drug” as the title. Today’s article gives a neuromodulatory intervention—yes, that is how I think about walking—the same “treatment.”
I’m going to address walking in the same way I address drugs. Unfortunately, for the conceit, there is no FDA label to reference.
We begin by addressing the data on walking for major depressive disorder. A large meta-analysis was done! It found:
[in] eight randomised, controlled trials…walking was an effective intervention for depression having an effect size of −0.86 [−1.12, −0.61]. This is comparable to several recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses of physical activity (not restricted to walking) as a treatment for depression2.
Holy cow! Honestly, that is huge. Using the Muir-Skee Lo EQE, …