Role of Exercise in Depression in Middle Aged and Older Adults

The pilot project proposed here will establish the feasibility and preliminary data necessary to test in a subsequent randomized trial: 1) whether independent of social contact, aerobic exercise training is effective in the treatment of depression and 2) whether changes in biological markers indicate an anti-inflammatory process, neurogenesis process, or both as a result of exercise. Target participants are adults aged 46 years or over who have current minor to moderate depressive symptoms. This pilot is a three-arm design of low dose exercise versus public health dose exercise intended to: 1) establish the feasibility, acceptance, and safety of Internet-based supervised exercise training and 2) obtain retention and attendance estimates needed to determine sample sizes for the follow-up trial.