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Many people don't get enough calcium—which helps prevent osteoporosis—through diet alone. Women ages 19 to 50 should get 1,000 milligrams or eat three to four servings of foods high in the mineral (taken with vitamin D for absorption) daily.
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If Jennisse Peatick, 36, ever had to stop exercising—well, the idea leaves her almost speechless. She doesn't know what would happen. "I started exercising because I was getting fat and I realized it was helping me deal with my ongoing depression," she says. Now the competitive cyclist and triathlete from Hillsborough, N.J., takes her daily exercise as regularly as she takes her antidepressant medication.
Exercise seems to be particularly important for some people. In a 2007study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, depressed people who were engaged in an exercise program recovered about as well as people who took medication. Both groups did better than a third group that got only a placebo.
What kind of exercise will lift your mood?
While regular exercise may be as effective for mild or moderate depression as antidepressants, there is a big catch, one that triathlete Peatick has figured out: It has to be intense, for at least 30 minutes, according to Madhukar Trivedi, MD, professor of psychiatry and head of the Mood Disorders Research Program and Clinic at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He has authored several studies that show regular exercise can reduce depressive symptoms—in one case by up to 47%.
Exercise seems to be particularly important for some people. In a 2007study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, depressed people who were engaged in an exercise program recovered about as well as people who took medication. Both groups did better than a third group that got only a placebo.
Exercise may have to be intense and frequent, which requires dedication.
Jennisse Peatick
While regular exercise may be as effective for mild or moderate depression as antidepressants, there is a big catch, one that triathlete Peatick has figured out: It has to be intense, for at least 30 minutes, according to Madhukar Trivedi, MD, professor of psychiatry and head of the Mood Disorders Research Program and Clinic at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He has authored several studies that show regular exercise can reduce depressive symptoms—in one case by up to 47%.
