Comment by llamataboot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by llamataboot | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Exercise is probably one of the most robust treatments we have for a lot of mental health issues. Personal experience: I dealt with recurrent MDD for over a decade, and chronic fatigue/pain issues for many many years as well. There were years were exercise was impossible (I'd literally pass out on the gym floor after trying to work out).

However, after I got well enough to move, regular movement helped wonders (I also think it helps get you into an embodied consciousness that contains less interpretation and more direct experience/awareness - esp somatic practices of moving meditation, yoga, contact improvisation)

Also, once I started getting /serious/ about exercise - like actual cardio and weightlifting 5 days a week - my energy levels skyrocketed after about 2-3 months, but it did take a bit.

--

Slightly off topic, but I'm convinced we'll also eventually have a lot of robust data that shows that alcohol, even in minor but regular amounts (2-3 drinks most days of the week, say) has large negative effects on mood/energy that build up over time.

--

I don't have any problems with psychoactive drugs, SSRIs never helped me, nor tricyclics, (stimulants help mood/energy a lot but have significant negative effects)- but if someone wants to try them, by all means do!

However, if someone came to me struggling with depression, I'd nearly 100% of the time encourage them to start exercising regularly, cut alcohol/eat better, and see a talk therapist or work through a self-help workbook and see where they are at in 3 months whether or not they also wanted to take anti-depressants.

> after I got well enough to move, regular movement helped wonders

Yeah, the "getting well enough to move" part is the crucial thing. Telling people with depression to just get off their asses and exercise will usually make things worse, not better. Even if you tell them they will feel better after. Even if they really believe that this is the case.

Exercise is great, but it's not the one magic thing that you can start with to treat depression. At least not for most people.

Probably telling anyone with that attitude anything will not go well. Telling an person struggling with addiction issues to just stop using, telling a person struggling with health-issues related to obesity to just eat less food, etc.

There is no one magic thing for depression usually...neither in a pill, nor in an ECT or ketamine treatment (though those last two can come close for some people), nor in exercise. But we don't need to approach exercise with the attitude of strict parent telling the lazy depressed person to get off their butt!

Instead, we can be examples of people that are living, embodied and active, and tell what it has done for us, and encourage them to think of movement as both a natural birthright and medicine.

>Slightly off topic, but I'm convinced we'll also eventually have a lot of robust data that shows that alcohol, even in minor but regular amounts (2-3 drinks most days of the week, say) has large negative effects on mood/energy that build up over time.

Do you remember any particular studies that show this? Would love to read more on this topic.

I think this one is going to be difficult to study, as often alcohol use is correlated to mental health issues - people self-medicate with alcohol in order to cope with their problems. There are also surely people who start drinking too much and then develop problems as a result, so it's a fairly classic correlation vs causation problem.

In addition to all the mental health benefits, I like to point out that exercise important for body health and healing too because our lymphatic system doesn't have a pump!

Everywhere there are blood vessels there are lymph vessels, they carry away the interstitial fluid our cells are bathed in. That fluid contains some of the waste products from our cells. The lymphatic system is also an immune organ in its own right.

Often rest is the diametric opposite of what we need during convalescence or healing. Movement and exercise within our ability is vital.

No idea why you are being downvoted, it's even interesting (and at worst offtopic).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com