There’s an interesting paper just published by the British Journal of psychiatry, that seems to demonstrate that better cardiovascular fitness as a teenager is correlated with decreased risk for later serious depression: press release here.

As I’ve been blithering about here – and have decided to move mostly to my shiny new Tumblr: The Running Reprobate, I’ve become a convert to running. I’ve experienced a really interesting lifting of mood every time I run – even if it’s only for 20 metres or something; running properly simply feels good.

Couple that with the evidence (at least suggestive; wish I knew where I’d seen it … Or maybe I heard it at the Brain Science Institute seminar last year – that could be it) that exercise is a really major factor in cognitive development/maintenance, and we really start to see that we should never stop running.

We know that exercise is good for depression (recent press notwithstanding), and that less fit adults – like adults with worse diets – are more likely to be depressed. Now it seems that fitness (and I’d lay good odds on diet as well) when younger has long-lasting effects on depression risk – suggesting that it is important in the brain developing properly.

So. Again: run, and don’t stop running.

And eat good noms: grains, nuts, oily fish, veggies…