Teenage fitness may influence mental health decades later, according to a new Australian study. The analysis linked better aerobic performance in adolescents to a lower chance of developing depression in adulthood.
Researchers analyzed a nationwide cohort first surveyed in 1985. More than one thousand participants were tracked for a period exceeding thirty-four years. Childhood fitness was assessed using a 1.6-kilometre run, a standing long jump, and, for a smaller group, additional cycling and hand-grip tests.
Mental-health outcomes were captured through structured diagnostic interviews, allowing researchers to reliably identify clinical depression over the decades.
Those who completed the run more quickly, indicating higher cardiorespiratory fitness, displayed a fifteen percent lower relative risk of later-life depression. The average time recorded for the run was eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds.
The protective link was strongest during the first five to ten years after the original testing, a period when the subjects were still close to their childhood years. The association persisted throughout the entire follow-up period. When the data were broken down by gender, the effect appeared more pronounced in females, who also reported higher lifetime rates of depression compared with males.
Global data show that the number of people living with mental-health conditions has nearly doubled in the past 30 years, with about 322 million adults, roughly one in twenty, currently experiencing depression.
Kyle Smith, the lead author, cautioned, “While we cannot say a lack of fitness during childhood causes depression in adults, the findings suggest that childhood fitness may have benefits beyond physical health.” He added, “There are many contributing factors to depression, meaning no single factor explains risk on its own. Fitness may be one piece of the puzzle.”
