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Personal experience is that high intensity exercise mixed with a comforting ritual was what broke me out of a couple bouts of severe depression. When the streak

by _cerv 8y ago

Personal experience is that high intensity exercise mixed with a comforting ritual was what broke me out of a couple bouts of severe depression. When the streak was broken by an event or travel, and several days missing out on exercise followed, I would fall back into the depressive mood. The most recent depressive bout was probably the most extreme I've gone through, and required a couple close friends to jump in, but again, routine exercise with comfortable bits of a routine mixed in - like making a cup of tea, making sure I have a podcast queued up, a book to read, and a handful of songs I like - has seemed to help pull me from the brink. Now that I have eclipsed thirty years and I still am over 300 lbs, and some of the recent depression-like feelings, I am making a more of a cognisant action to keep working at this and to journal how I feel before, during, and after the routine. I look forward to seeing this kind of work being taken a little more seriously as a means to treat depression as opposed to only medication and therapy.

ddorian43 8y ago
Can you explain what you did with high intensity exercising ? Were you diagnosed by a professional psychiatrist ?
- _cerv 8y ago
  I was diagnosed as a teenager and prescribed Zoloft. I hated the medication because intrusive thoughts would spiral from “what if I jumped infront of this car” to “what if I locked the doors of this grocery store and set it ablaze”. So I stopped taking it and got fat. As for high intensity, I’m sure that my use of the term isn’t correct, but I do something that raises my heart to 165+ for 30 seconds, keep my heart at 130, do something to spike it after 5 minutes and repeat until tired. I’ve been able to recently accomplish this reliably on an elliptical at the highest resistance level and maintain activity for 60 to 90 minutes. After longer sessions I feel pretty good and sometimes a bit euphoric.
pfortuny 8y ago
I only have to congratulate you for having "close friends" who "jump in". That is a great part of my keeping my mood stable lately (I have also a couple of friends who are not afraid to "jump in" and help me out). Hope you keep them and keep safe!
- amelius 8y ago
  Speaking about friends, a great way to improve mood is to simply spend time with them. Sitting alone behind a computer screen every night and weekend is asking for problems.
  - readingnews 8y ago
    It is quite difficult to "make friends". Real friends, who will "jump in", and not just mock you when you say one emotional thing like "I am sad". It is nearly impossible to make friends when you are starting to get older (like 40+)... I can not imagine what it is like if you are depressed and have no friends. How do those people get help?
    - n0tme 8y ago
      We go to bars and drink with strangers.
- hazz99 8y ago
  As someone who wants to be there for my friends, what does this mean? What does "jumping in" entail? I assume it means continuing to be social, helping out, and encouraging the person in question to "get out of their bubble", so to speak. I haven't had personal experience with the harsher side of depression, so I'm not sure what is effective (on my part).
  - AlexTWithBeard 8y ago
    social, helping out, and encouraging the person in question to "get out of their bubble" Interestingly, it's often exactly the opposite that's needed: just be there and listen.
    - wiz21c 8y ago
      I second this. What I expect from someone to help is : just listen and show compassion. Compassion in its literal sense means : "suffer with". I don't ask people to suffer, but just to be with me inside my suffering, ie, recognize that I suffer, recognize that this suffering is true, and that staying in that suffering for a while is ok. By not acting, one comfort the other in its own view of the world, make him at peace with it. Once that bond has been made, then one can start to work on improving things. All of this requires time and a lot of energy.
bpyne 8y ago
Lack of exercise causes me a mixture of depression and anxiety. In a society in which we engineered physical challenge out of our lives, it's no wonder a segment of the population experiences depression.

by _cerv 8y ago

ddorian43 8y ago

Can you explain what you did with high intensity exercising ? Were you diagnosed by a professional psychiatrist ?

_cerv 8y ago
I was diagnosed as a teenager and prescribed Zoloft. I hated the medication because intrusive thoughts would spiral from “what if I jumped infront of this car” to “what if I locked the doors of this grocery store and set it ablaze”. So I stopped taking it and got fat. As for high intensity, I’m sure that my use of the term isn’t correct, but I do something that raises my heart to 165+ for 30 seconds, keep my heart at 130, do something to spike it after 5 minutes and repeat until tired. I’ve been able to recently accomplish this reliably on an elliptical at the highest resistance level and maintain activity for 60 to 90 minutes. After longer sessions I feel pretty good and sometimes a bit euphoric.

pfortuny 8y ago

I only have to congratulate you for having "close friends" who "jump in". That is a great part of my keeping my mood stable lately (I have also a couple of friends who are not afraid to "jump in" and help me out). Hope you keep them and keep safe!

amelius 8y ago
Speaking about friends, a great way to improve mood is to simply spend time with them. Sitting alone behind a computer screen every night and weekend is asking for problems.
- readingnews 8y ago
  It is quite difficult to "make friends". Real friends, who will "jump in", and not just mock you when you say one emotional thing like "I am sad". It is nearly impossible to make friends when you are starting to get older (like 40+)... I can not imagine what it is like if you are depressed and have no friends. How do those people get help?
  - n0tme 8y ago
    We go to bars and drink with strangers.
hazz99 8y ago
As someone who wants to be there for my friends, what does this mean? What does "jumping in" entail? I assume it means continuing to be social, helping out, and encouraging the person in question to "get out of their bubble", so to speak. I haven't had personal experience with the harsher side of depression, so I'm not sure what is effective (on my part).
- AlexTWithBeard 8y ago
  social, helping out, and encouraging the person in question to "get out of their bubble" Interestingly, it's often exactly the opposite that's needed: just be there and listen.
  - wiz21c 8y ago
    I second this. What I expect from someone to help is : just listen and show compassion. Compassion in its literal sense means : "suffer with". I don't ask people to suffer, but just to be with me inside my suffering, ie, recognize that I suffer, recognize that this suffering is true, and that staying in that suffering for a while is ok. By not acting, one comfort the other in its own view of the world, make him at peace with it. Once that bond has been made, then one can start to work on improving things. All of this requires time and a lot of energy.

bpyne 8y ago

Lack of exercise causes me a mixture of depression and anxiety. In a society in which we engineered physical challenge out of our lives, it's no wonder a segment of the population experiences depression.