Short bursts of exercise can help reduce the symptoms of chronic depression, a study has found.

The study, published on Monday in JAMA Network Open, found when people over 50 who suffer from conditions often linked to depression — such as diabetes, heart disease and chronic pain — exercised it reduced their depressive symptoms.

The research, which followed more than 4,000 Irish adults with an average age of 61 for a decade, found if adults suffering from the conditions linked to depression exercised for at least 20 minutes a day, five times a week, their symptoms got better.

However, people suffering depression without a chronic disease in the study needed exercise in a moderate to vigorous fashion for two hours a day for the symptoms to ease. There was noticeable improvement in depressive symptoms for those participants who did so, according to lead study author Eamon Laird, a researcher at the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre at the University of Limerick in Ireland.

The participants in the study were a part of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, and were evaluated every two years.

Researchers gave them questionnaires about their physical activity and exercise levels before assessing their depressive symptoms. Those with excessive symptoms and those who had suffered from a major depressive episode during the past 12 months were classified as having major depression.

“Examples of symptoms from the questionnaire included: I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing; My sleep was restless; I felt I could not shake off the blues even with the help from my family and friends; etc,” Laird told CNN.

Laird said the study is the first longitudinal (long form) research of its kind to study depression in people with and without a chronic disease, and to work out what the lowest minimal dose of exercise is before depression symptoms are eased.

“The higher the physical activity dose, the greater the mental health benefits for depression,” Larid said.

The study found people that exercised for 20 minutes a day, five days a week, had a 16% lower rate of depressive symptoms in comparison to the 43% risk in those who didn’t work out at all.

Unfortunately, the study noted the overall rate of depression rose overall from 8% to 10% in the 10 years the study took place.

However, but they also noted antidepressant use increased from about 6% to 10% and exercise rates declined around 10% overall.

The discovery that working out helps ease symptoms is not new, although the time spent exercising is.

One in six adults will have depression at some time in their life and it affects about 16 million American adults every year, according to the CDC.

In February, a study published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found regular exercise may be more effective than medication for the treatment of mental illness, such as depression.

“Physical activity is known to help improve mental health. Yet despite the evidence, it has not been widely adopted as a first-choice treatment,” lead researcher Dr. Ben Singh said in a statement.