Background and Aim: Depression is one of the most important threats to psychological well-being of individuals in the 21^st century. Individuals experiencing depression will have unpleasant feelings of sadness and discouragement. This feeling stops individuals, especially students, to have the ability of experiencing fun and joyfulness in life. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of short-term resistance exercises on occupational performance areas and depression severity in students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

Materials and Methods: Convenience sampling was used in this study. Participants included 40 freshmen of medical sciences in experimental group and a matching group as control group (40 participants). The Beck Depression Inventory (second edition) and Canadian Occupational Performance Measurement were tested before and after implementing the designed protocols. Participants in experimental group performed resistance exercises 3 days a week, each session last 90 minutes over an 8-weeks period. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis.

Results: The paired t test expressed that there are significant differences in performance (P<.001), satisfaction (P<.001) and depression (P<.001) regarding experimental group before and after intervention of the study. The independent t test suggests significant differences in performance (P<.001), satisfaction (P<.001) and depression (P<.001) among both groups after implementing exercise program.

Conclusion: Short-term resistance exercises can effectively reduce depression severity and improve performance and satisfaction among students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

Keywords: Resistance exercises, Occupational performance areas, Depression, Students