Cycling or swimming three times a week can be as effective as drugs for treating depression, new research has discovered.

In study by the University of Texas to investigate how exercise alone can be used to treat mild to moderate depression, researchers found that symptoms were cut by a half in men and women aged 20 to 45 who took part in three to five 30-minute aerobic exercise sessions a week for 12 weeks. Researchers from the University of Texas say the results are comparable to those achieved with anti-depressant drugs.