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Comment by padobson | Hacker News Reader

I go to therapy to manage my depression. I don't have a severe case, but it's bad enough that it affects my productivity at times. Once a year or so I'll have a bout where I am almost completely unable to function.

The tools I use to manage depression are (wait for it) diet, exercise and prayer (or meditation, if you want to keep it secular).

Exercise is particularly useful. Depression affects the mind, so it's difficult to be self-aware about it. But I've found that when I start to have those thoughts of hopelessness, going out and running 1-3 miles at a pace that pushes my physical limits (I use a Nike Sportwatch for measurements) eradicates my depression.

On a semi-daily basis, 30 minutes of prayer, 30 minutes exercise and at least one meal with ~90g of raw spinach seems to do the trick for me.

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Spinach, that's interesting. Apparently, tryptophan + vitamin B6 + vitamin C converts to serotonin.

https://thomasmcgregor.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/cure-depress...

Thanks for the link. I started on Spinach because my doctor suggested "leafy green vegetables". I tried kale first, but I prefer the taste of spinach.

I most often eat it first thing in the morning as a shake: 90g spinach + 1 cup almond milk + half a frozen banana.

According to the article, I may want to add some strawberries or oranges for more vitamin C.

Fresh spinach?

Depends. I buy groceries every two weeks and get two bags of fresh spinach. I freeze one and leave the other in the vegetable crisper. So the first week it's all fresh, the second week it's frozen.

If you want more calories, try skirlie (oatmeal and spinach)

http://www.mostlyeating.com/skirlie-fast-savoury-oats

You tried kale before spinach? WTF? What's the story behind that?

Since the doctor's recommendation. Kale seems to have slightly more nutrients, but, IMO, at to great a cost too taste.

Ah that makes sense. Still, I stand by my shock. Going to kale before spinach is just nuts (barring pressure from a doctor who doesn't care about your culinary experiences).

Have you tried cooking it though? Kale is one of the greatest stir fry ingredients

I had the misfortune of working at a company that chose to get us lunches from Zesty. I endured more varieties of kale preparation (and avocado which I also dislike unless made into guacamole) in a month than in my entire previous life. So many things were great about that job, but I was actually dreading lunch on most days.

The kale taste can be mitigated somewhat with a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and sesame oil. I do this with spicy arugula too as I often find the taste overpowering.

I found it to be the other way around, spinach tastes gross and kale is rather neutral. Were you cooking it?

I get similar affects with turkey, again with the tryptophan.

Interestingly turkey has slightly less tryptophan than chicken: http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-tryptophan-poultry-7904....

it's difficult to be self-aware about it

I don't have any difficulties myself with being self-aware about it at all, on the contrary. The major difficulty for me is using that knowledge to do something with it. Not sure what is worse: being depressed, or being depressed and knowing that you are and realizing all your thoughts are going downwards into the wrong spiral and not being able to do shit about it. Well, except hard exercise or meditation or long walks etc, but pure mindcontrol doesn't work :]

For sure, when someone is in the depths of a bad depression, they may know what they have to do to get out of it but still be unable to do that. Therapy, drugs and family intervention are all good for getting people to the point where they can maintain mental health with OPs three things. Those things might work when "pure mindcontrol" doesn't.

I've found that hot sauce on some crackers, or jalapeno peppers can do the trick -- it doesn't make me "happy", but moderates some of the "despair" feeling.

Yeah, our evolutionary response to the capsaicin arms raise was to push out endorphins and adrenaline to overcome the pain to get at the nutrition. As a result, a decent concentration gives you a nice little high to go with the vitamins.

I suffer from extreme depression as well. I used to meditate for at least an hour a day, I also used to run five or more miles a day...

I haven't been doing either recently, and my depression is really bad right now.

I was biking a lot, until my bike was stolen recently. That added to my depression...

But I walk an average of four miles a day, and take average of 10,000 steps a day and climb an average of ten flights of stairs a day.

My legs are still incredibly strong - but I need to do more about my depression. The last few weeks have been as much as I can take.

I'm not a mental health professional but I suffer from depression. It's not an extreme case but it's still quite painful. I urge you to continue striving to throw off that grey veil that shrouds life. I can assure you that the first glimpse of brightness and clear vision will come, even after weeks of crushing hopelessness.

Even when my brain's biochemical state is fucked and broken and makes me want to hide and disappear, I can remember that it will change and I will feel better and that I do have some degree of control over it. You seem very self-aware, which is an enormous challenge when one is depressed. That means that you have one of the tools to escape depression. Remember that.

It may sound trite, but fuck it. Just keep on going. You will feel better.

Edit: If you can, try to find a professional counselor or psychiatrist. If nothing else, they're exceptionally good listeners.

Thank you.

I was going to counseling - until I couldn't afford her any longer.

I have children - so they keep me aware, and here.

I've found that a high intensity workout is more effective than a low one - even comparing a jog to a run.

A few weeks ago, I could feel the depression setting in, and several runs that started with 8 minute miles didn't seem to stop it. So I resolved to go faster (read: got pissed and sprinted), ran a 6:21 mile (my fastest since I started measuring last year) and it was like spring cleaning for my brain.

As a fellow sufferer of depression, I can relate and agree that the more intense the effort the greater the release of hormones/feelings which appear to suppress the depressive symptoms. That being said however, I have found long walks of a low intensity have been especially useful. Particularly on trails or hiking, the constant mindfulness of each step over rocks and roots helps put me in a meditative trance.

Solvitur Ambulando, it is solved by walking

>Solvitur Ambulando, it is solved by walking

This is really interesting, in my martial art, which I did extremely actively in my youth - but far less now -- one of the sayings is "Keep walking" and "Keep moving"

The "Keep walking" is even used in some of the learning of actual techniques -- you move into a certain position with your Uke, and then... keep walking... and it executes the throw.

Keep walking is also used when talking about meditation in their teachings as well... movement meditation.

So you literally walked it off. Perhaps there's wisdom in that saying.

You might want to check out sardines too.

I've been juicing Spinach daily to great effect.

Hi, Popeye, nice to see you on HN ;)

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