4 ms·

Moderate exercise not only treats, but prevents depression http://media.utoronto.ca/media-releases/moderate-exercise-not-only-treats-but-prevents-depression/ ht

• girvo 13y ago
  For me, exercise (running, surfing, and lately doing weights -- I've never done the latter before by I'm enjoying it), coupled with my thinking therapy coping mechanisms (CBT works wonders for me) has completely placed my depression into remission for the past year and a half. That's the longest time I've gone without an episode since I was 15, and I'm 23 now. I use antidepressants when I feel an episode starting -- but I only stay on them for a maximum of 3 months and come off them; I use them as a mental bandaid of sorts. I've not needed them since I started exercising (and working on my thought processes), and it's quite literally changed my life. It also helps with motivation, thinking through hard problems (though I'm still yet to find a way to capture those thoughts while I'm riding a wave!). The girlfriend appreciates it too. I highly recommend doing some form of exercise for anyone who is struggling with their own head, it'll help, I promise. The one thing I had to do to make the habit stick was doing multiple forms of exercise. Running is great, but just doing that alone was too much of a "To-do item" -- adding surfing and weight training to it made it stick finally.
  • duaneb 13y ago
    I second the CBT aside—it's very effective at helping people work with their own thoughts & responses in a relentlessly directed manner.
  • comrh 13y ago
    > "The one thing I had to do to make the habit stick was doing multiple forms of exercise. Running is great, but just doing that alone was too much of a "To-do item" -- adding surfing and weight training to it made it stick finally." This is a great point and something I just came to learn as well. If something at the gym is boring, do something else! I couldn't figure out how people loved the gym when I was going to run for an hour every time and was bored out of my mind. Switching to a weight routine instilled a sense of real progress (the weight on the bar, the # of reps) and left me in a state of satisfied exhaustion.
• rjzzleep 13y ago
  this^^ i spend all my time in front of my computer(including my train and bus rides), but i also do sports almost every day. the problem a lot of us face is that they can't stop thinking about work related things. be it political, company hierarchy(or architecture), or a soft/hardware related problem, that you didn't manage to fix in time. personally i find running or working to allow me too much time to think. i find my balance in sports, that require 100% attention. that is the only moment during the day where i don't think about solving some problem, but instead focus on something else.
  • wslh 13y ago
    i find my balance in sports, that require 100% attention It's not a sport but I recommend cooking, doing Legos (have you tried EV3?), etc as a way to connect to physical things.
    • GrinningFool 13y ago
      Old fashioned jigsaw puzzles are good for this too, though for problem-solving types perhaps a bit too hard to put down...
      • wslh 13y ago
        Yes, the idea is to have something that you can do with some low effort. We can call it aerobic brain activity.
    • rjzzleep 13y ago
      haven't tried ev3, but i tend to get immersed in cooking when i do it too. believe it or not i actually had an ex gf that was worried about it.
• civilian 13y ago
  On the bright side, being grossly overweight also makes the walk more of a workout!