THE EFFECT OF AEROBICS EXERCISE ON DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND STRESS IN WOMEN WITH SUBCLINICAL HYPOTHYROIDISM

The rate of depression, anxiety, and stress increased in people with subclinical hypothyroidism. It seems that the use of non-pharmaceutical methods such as exercise has a beneficial effect on depression, anxiety, and stress. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Aerobics exercise on depression, anxiety, and stress in women with subclinical hypothyroidism.

In this semi-experimental study, Forty-one women with subclinical hypothyroidism were selected through convenience sampling and randomly divided into experimental (n=23) and control groups (n= 18). The experimental group participated in an Aerobics exercise program for three sessions (60 min) per week for eight weeks. The control group did not participate in any exercise training regularly. The data-gathering tool was the DASS-21 questionnaire. Independent and paired samples t-test were used in the significance level 0.05 to analyze the data.

The results of paired samples t-test in the experimental group showed that depression (P=0.002), anxiety (P= 0.006) and stress (P= 0.004) significantly decreased. But the results of paired samples t-test in control group showed that depression (P= 0.613), anxiety (P= 0.818) and stress (P=0.862) did not change significantly. Independent samples t-test showed that aerobics exercise led to significant decreases in depression (P= 0.037), anxiety (P= 0.032) and stress (P= 0.005) in experimental group compared to control group.

Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that eight weeks of Aerobics exercise can effectively improve depression, anxiety, and stress in women with subclinical hypothyroidism.