This study examined the effects of a two-week running intervention on depressive symptoms and structural changes of different subfields of the hippocampus in young adults from the general population. The intervention was realized in small groups of participants in a mostly forested area and was organized into seven units of about 60 min each. The study design included two intervention groups which were tested at three time points and which received the intervention time-delayed: The first group between the first and the second time point, and the second group between the second and the third time point (waiting control group). At each test session, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed and symptoms related to depression were measured by means of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale. Results revealed a significant reduction of CES-D scores after the running intervention. The intervention also resulted in significant increases in the volume of the hippocampus, and reductions of CES-D scores right after the intervention were associated with increases in hippocampal volume. These findings add important new evidence on the beneficial role of aerobic exercise on depressive symptoms and related structural alterations of the hippocampus.

这项研究检查了为期两周的跑步干预对来自普通人群的年轻人的抑郁症状和海马不同亚区结构变化的影响。干预是在大部分森林地区的一小群参与者中实现的，并被组织成七个单元，每个单元约 60 分钟。研究设计包括两个干预组，在三个时间点进行测试并接受干预时间延迟：第一组在第一个和第二个时间点之间，第二组在第二个和第三个时间点之间（等待控制团体）。在每个测试阶段，进行磁共振成像 (MRI)，并通过流行病学研究中心抑郁症 (CES-D) 量表测量与抑郁症相关的症状。结果显示，跑步干预后 CES-D 分数显着降低。干预还导致海马体积显着增加，干预后 CES-D 评分的降低与海马体积的增加有关。这些发现为有氧运动对抑郁症状和相关海马结构改变的有益作用增加了重要的新证据。