Alborz University

Background: Physical activity can reduce the incidence of physical and psychological disorders such as depression. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of eight week aerobic training on plasma levels of serotonin and depression in addicted men to methamphetamine during rehabilitation.

Methods: A total of 20 men addicted to methamphetamine were referring to rehabilitation center with moderate depression were selected as a purposeful and available samples and randomly divided into two groups of aerobic training (n=10) and control (n=10). Group of aerobic training performed for 8 weeks, 3 days a week (each session for 45 min, included 10 min of warm up, running as two times of 15 minutes with an intensity of 70-75% of maximum heart rate, resting intervals of 3 to 4 min between them and 5 min cool down), While the control group hadn’t any effective physical activity. To measure levels of serotonin, in two stages, before and after training 5 cc blood were collected from the brachial vein of the subjects.

Results: Eight weeks aerobic training increased significantly blood levels of serotonin in the training group compared to the control (P<0.05) and depression were reduced significantly.

Conclusion: According to the findings it can be concluded that aerobic training can impact on blood levels of serotonin in addicted men to methamphetamine and increase plasma serotonin concentration and cause remarkable reduction in depression.