Study co-leader Eva-Maria Stelzer, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, and colleagues found that adults with depression who took part in bouldering for 8 weeks, experienced significant improvements in symptoms of the condition.
For their study, Stelzer and colleagues set out to investigate whether bouldering might have a beneficial impact for people with symptoms of depression.
“Bouldering, in many ways, is a positive physical activity,” says Stelzer. “There are different routes for your physical activity level, and there’s a social aspect along with the feeling of an immediate accomplishment when bouldering.”
The study included more than 100 adults from Germany who were randomly allocated to one of the two groups. At various points throughout the study, the severity of depressive symptoms among participants was assessed using the Beck’s Depression Inventory and the Symptom Check List Revised.
According to the team, the improvement in the Beck’s Depression score seen in the immediate bouldering group represents a change in depression severity from moderate to mild.
Stelzer notes that bouldering requires high levels of concentration, which is what makes the sport beneficial for people with depression, given that rumination is a problem for such individuals.
“You have to be mindful and focused on the moment. It does not leave much room to let your mind wonder on things that may be going on in your life – you have to focus on not falling,” she explains.
All in all, the team believes that bouldering might be a beneficial addition to current treatments for individuals with depression, and it may even help people with other mental health disorders.
Study co-leader Katharina Luttenberger, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany said that I’d always encourage patients to do the sport they like – may it be climbing or something else – as sport is a wonderful possibility to prevent all possible sorts of illnesses, mental and physical.”