4 ms·

To what degree? A simple Google search will reveal plenty of body builders and athletes who have committed suicide despite plenty of weight training. Sure ther

To what degree? A simple Google search will reveal plenty of body builders and athletes who have committed suicide despite plenty of weight training. Sure there are other factors influencing their decision, but "just lift weights!" is too general of a prescription to help.

rubbingalcohol 8y ago
Not smoking doesn't mean you won't get lung cancer. Eating enough fiber doesn't mean you won't get heart disease. Are you seriously suggesting that the intent of this article was to say that lifting weights will make all your problems go away?
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  The title of the article literally says "Study confirms lifting weights reduces depression". I am questioning if it is by a meaningful amount. For example, a gauze pad will stop your bleeding by a considerable amount....
SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
Do we have quantitative research into other forms of physical activity? You're right, athletes still commit suicide, but marathon runners still drop dead of heart attacks too - does that mean the general consensus that running is good for your heart is a bad one?
- DanBC 8y ago
  We have ltos of research on exercise and mental health. Exercise is important, but it's probably not so useful as a treatment for mental ill health.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    I guess that depends on a bunch of factors - if it's a mild acute depression why wouldn't exercise be useful? Absolutely, long term chronic deep depression needs different therapy, but exercise may very well be a sort of chicken soup for a the blues. I know it's helped me immeasurably, and enabled me to cope with my anxiety disorder and its co-morbid depression to the point where I no longer require medication.
    - DanBC 8y ago
      But for mild acute depression almost anything works about as well as anything else. The only things that stand out are some talking therapies (CBT especially, because there's lots of research) and medication. The disadvantage if pushing exercise, without providing an accessible course of exercise, is that people find it hard to do and that increases their feelings of guilt and wortlessness.
cwbrandsma 8y ago
There are a number of body building supplements with some wild side effects. And if you look at body builders, at the elite levels...that just isn't healthy what they do to themselves to get ready for a show. Getting down to less-than 5% body fat, that isn't good for you. But, going to the gym and lifting weights, and eat like a normal person...that is fine.
jasonkostempski 8y ago
Maybe steroids increase depression more than weight lifting reduces it?
matheusmoreira 8y ago
Reducing the risk of depression does not mean eliminating it. In medicine, 0% and 100% don't exist.
mr_overalls 8y ago
It's amazing how many people seem to lack even an intuitive understanding of correlation (i.e., "X tends to cause Y"), and think that providing a (usually anecdotal) counterexample negates the relationship/trend. Alice: Smoking tends to cause cancer. Bob: My aunt Wanda smoked for years and lived to be 89. Alice: Exercise is good for you. Bob: My cousin started jogging and found out he had cancer the next month. Alice: The global climate is warming. Bob: The weather in my hometown was unusually cold yesterday. Alice: Childhood vaccinations prevent many deaths. On the whole, they provide a net benefit. Bob: A child in a nearby town had a severe allergic reaction to a chicken pox vaccine; children would be better off just getting the disease. This kind of innumeracy is distressingly common.
- beenBoutIT 8y ago
  Logic is not something most people seem to care a whole lot about.
- mmt 8y ago
  >This kind of innumeracy is distressingly common. I would say it certainly doesn't help that science reporting essentially never gives the numbers that matter, nor explains what they mean. > Covering 33 randomized clinical trials with 1,877 participants That's an average of under 57 participants per clinical trial, which seems a bit sparse to me. Still, that's not my point so much as that those are the only numbers about the study in the article. Where is the mention of statistical significance or uncertainty? It's also difficult to teach, since I don't think we're naturally geared for intuiting about numbers bigger than we might encounter in nature. Also, anecdotes about people we know personally are more likely to resonate with us than mere statistics about faceless strangers (not that it explains why a few hundred Anthrax vaccine deaths of strangers would have been more objectionable than the routine tens of thosands of annual road deaths of strangers).

rubbingalcohol 8y ago

Not smoking doesn't mean you won't get lung cancer. Eating enough fiber doesn't mean you won't get heart disease. Are you seriously suggesting that the intent of this article was to say that lifting weights will make all your problems go away?

anoncoward111 8y ago
The title of the article literally says "Study confirms lifting weights reduces depression". I am questioning if it is by a meaningful amount. For example, a gauze pad will stop your bleeding by a considerable amount....

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago

Do we have quantitative research into other forms of physical activity? You're right, athletes still commit suicide, but marathon runners still drop dead of heart attacks too - does that mean the general consensus that running is good for your heart is a bad one?

DanBC 8y ago
We have ltos of research on exercise and mental health. Exercise is important, but it's probably not so useful as a treatment for mental ill health.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  I guess that depends on a bunch of factors - if it's a mild acute depression why wouldn't exercise be useful? Absolutely, long term chronic deep depression needs different therapy, but exercise may very well be a sort of chicken soup for a the blues. I know it's helped me immeasurably, and enabled me to cope with my anxiety disorder and its co-morbid depression to the point where I no longer require medication.
  - DanBC 8y ago
    But for mild acute depression almost anything works about as well as anything else. The only things that stand out are some talking therapies (CBT especially, because there's lots of research) and medication. The disadvantage if pushing exercise, without providing an accessible course of exercise, is that people find it hard to do and that increases their feelings of guilt and wortlessness.

cwbrandsma 8y ago

There are a number of body building supplements with some wild side effects. And if you look at body builders, at the elite levels...that just isn't healthy what they do to themselves to get ready for a show. Getting down to less-than 5% body fat, that isn't good for you. But, going to the gym and lifting weights, and eat like a normal person...that is fine.

jasonkostempski 8y ago

Maybe steroids increase depression more than weight lifting reduces it?

matheusmoreira 8y ago

Reducing the risk of depression does not mean eliminating it. In medicine, 0% and 100% don't exist.

mr_overalls 8y ago

It's amazing how many people seem to lack even an intuitive understanding of correlation (i.e., "X tends to cause Y"), and think that providing a (usually anecdotal) counterexample negates the relationship/trend. Alice: Smoking tends to cause cancer. Bob: My aunt Wanda smoked for years and lived to be 89. Alice: Exercise is good for you. Bob: My cousin started jogging and found out he had cancer the next month. Alice: The global climate is warming. Bob: The weather in my hometown was unusually cold yesterday. Alice: Childhood vaccinations prevent many deaths. On the whole, they provide a net benefit. Bob: A child in a nearby town had a severe allergic reaction to a chicken pox vaccine; children would be better off just getting the disease. This kind of innumeracy is distressingly common.

beenBoutIT 8y ago
Logic is not something most people seem to care a whole lot about.
mmt 8y ago
>This kind of innumeracy is distressingly common. I would say it certainly doesn't help that science reporting essentially never gives the numbers that matter, nor explains what they mean. > Covering 33 randomized clinical trials with 1,877 participants That's an average of under 57 participants per clinical trial, which seems a bit sparse to me. Still, that's not my point so much as that those are the only numbers about the study in the article. Where is the mention of statistical significance or uncertainty? It's also difficult to teach, since I don't think we're naturally geared for intuiting about numbers bigger than we might encounter in nature. Also, anecdotes about people we know personally are more likely to resonate with us than mere statistics about faceless strangers (not that it explains why a few hundred Anthrax vaccine deaths of strangers would have been more objectionable than the routine tens of thosands of annual road deaths of strangers).