Effects of physical activity on depression in college students: a systematic review

Abstract

Physical activity is a protective factor for the development of depression, which is a mental disorder most frequently observed in young adults and college students and is associated with poor academic performance, unstable social relationships, poor job performance, and suicidal thoughts or suicidal ideation. For this reason, the aim of this research was to conduct a systematic review of the studies that establish the effects of physical activity on this disease. For this purpose, the PRISMA methodology was used. The search for information was performed in databases such as: Redalyc, Dialnet, Scielo and Google Scholar, and the search period covered the years 2018 to 2023. A total sample of 18 research papers was obtained by using keywords in Spanish and English language such as “Physical activity”, “Depression”, “College Students”, “Mental health”/ “Actividad Física”, “Depresión”, “Universitarios”, “Salud mental”, and Boolean operators such as "and / and" and the concatenation operator "+" were used. Among the main conclusions is that Physical Activity is a determining factor in the prevention and treatment of depression, providing a series of benefits at a psychological level such as better management of self-esteem, self-perception, decreased stress levels and control of emotions.