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A new US study showed that boys practicing team sports appeared to have larger hippocampal volumes in the brain and fewer symptoms of depression.
Conducted by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, in collaboration with the University of California and the University of Vermont, this new study looked at 4,191 children aged 9 to 11 years old at United States.
The parents of the children were asked to report on their child's participation in 23 different sports and activities and any depressive symptoms.
The children also underwent brain examinations to record the volume of their hippocampus.
The results, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, showed that sport was badociated with greater hippocampal volume in girls and boys and fewer symptoms of depression in boys.
The badociations were even stronger for children participating in more structured sports, such as team sports or regular clbades.
Read also: Parents' stress at work can affect the well-being of their children
The researchers suggested that the different effects of sport on depression in girls could mean that different factors contribute to depression in girls or that a closer link between sport and depression could emerge at a later stage of development for the girls.
Previous research has already shown that depression in adults is badociated with narrowing of the hippocampus, an important brain region for memory and stress response. Some studies suggest that exercise can also have a positive effect on the depression and volume of the hippocampus in the adult.
However, the new study is one of the first to suggest that participation in team sports can have a similar positive effect on children.
"Our findings are important because they help illuminate the relationships between sports participation, the volume of a particular brain region, and depressive symptoms in children as young as nine," said lead author Lisa Gorham.
"We found that participation in sports activities, but not in non-sports activities such as music or the arts, is related to an increase in the volume of the hippocampus in boys and girls and a reduction in depression in boys, "she added.
"The fact that these relationships were the strongest for team sports or structured suggests that there might be something about the combination of exercise and social support or the structure that stems from being part of a team that can be helpful in preventing or treating depression in young people, "says Gorham." The findings raise fascinating opportunities for new work on prevention and treatment of depression. depression in children. "
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