{
  "id": 6968380,
  "title": "Weightlifting offers large antidepressant effects for young women with anxiety, regardless of intensity",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/12/weightlifting-offers-large-antidepressant-effects-for-young-women",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-12T18:00:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/weightlifting-offers-large-antidepressant-effects-for-young-women-with-anxiety-regardless-of-intensity/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study has found that both standard and low-intensity weightlifting can significantly alleviate depressive symptoms in young women who experience high levels of anxiety. The research, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, indicates that weightlifting is an effective option for improving mental health, regardless of the level of physical effort involved.\n\nGeneralized anxiety disorder, which affects women twice as often as men, often co-occurs with depression. Conventional treatments, such as medication and talk therapy, can be costly or cause unwanted side effects. To address this, lead author Darragh O'Sullivan, an exercise psychology researcher at the University of Limerick in Ireland, focused on anxious young women, as they are less likely to engage in muscle-strengthening exercises and may benefit more from early interventions.\n\nThe study compared standard strength training to a very low-effort workout to distinguish between physical benefits and psychological boosts. Fifty-five young adult women, with an average age of 22, participated in the eight-week program. Both groups completed twice-weekly supervised sessions of exercises like squats, bench presses, and deadlifts. The main difference was the weight lifted: one group performed at 70-80% of their maximum capacity, while the other lifted only 20%.\n\nBoth groups experienced substantial reductions in depressive symptoms, with an average decrease of 54% in the higher-intensity group and 43% in the low-intensity group. The difference in mental health improvement was not statistically significant, suggesting that low-intensity workouts also provide a strong antidepressant effect. Physical strength improved 41% in the higher-intensity group, compared to 21% in the low-intensity group. The psychological benefits persisted a month after the supervised training ended.",
  "summary": "A new study finds you don't need to lift heavy to see mental health benefits. Researchers discovered that both standard and low-intensity strength training significantly reduced depressive symptoms in young women experiencing high levels of anxiety.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}