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Comment by asdfman123 | Hacker News Reader

As someone who has more or less successfully learned to deal with depression, ADHD, anxiety, etc., the trick is basically doing everything considered "healthy."

We don't understand all of the mechanisms of long-term illnesses like depression, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's, etc. but we do know how to fight them: exercise and good diet. *

Some processes in the human body obviously get disrupted under modern conditions, so it's important to give your body something it's a little more used to: more movement, more traditional foods.

* (Obviously, it's not going to automatically fix depression in all cases, but it's absolutely worth fighting the good fight if you can. Other treatments are definitely worth trying too.)

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> But I also believe that if you don't exercise, eat nutritious food, get sunlight, get enough sleep, consume positive material, surround yourself with support, then you aren't giving yourself a fighting chance.”

- Jim Carrey

Sometimes though, any one of those or all of them can end up seeming impossible because of the depression one is fighting.

Absolutely. I will point out that depressed people struggle with black-and-white thinking, so just taking the smallest steps in the right direction are a good start.

Slowly build up incrementally better habits over years. It might start with a 10 minute walk.

My issue is that the disorders/symptoms interfere with my ability to do "everything considered healthy."

The ADHD makes it impossible for me to stick to exercise routines as well as other routines. The depressive symptoms make me feel like I am carrying a ball and chain and every little thing requires so much energy.

The worst part is that I am treated for ADHD, and even that has basically any negligible difference anymore.

I feel like I am trapped in a negative feedback loop that I cannot escape.

Does your ADHD make you feel antsy, like you need to get up and move around?

Absolutely.

It's part of the reason why office work is so difficult and working from home is not. Sitting in a office is quite tiring since I have to use a lot of energy to restrain myself. I'm the type of person who paces when thinking/talking on the phone, talks with their hands, bounces my leg when sitting, fiddling with something in my hands when talking, etc..

The best description I can give is it feels almost like a bad itch. I cannot control when something itches, but once the urge to scratch presents itself, it's almost impossible to resist. Trying to force myself to not move doesn't make the "itch" go away. It just gets worse.

Learning to get into the exercise habit is a night and day change for me.

In fact, my body now demands that I go to the gym every day of the week, either for weights, cardio, or both. On my one rest day, I feel riddled by anxiety at 6 pm because I'm not doing any real physical activity. (Now that I write this, maybe I should walk on my rest day, but oh well.)

It's hard work to form the habit, but it's the best treatment for this sort of thing that I've found. Once you start associating exercise = relief, it becomes welcome.

Agreed, but with the caveat that depressed people often struggle with making the changes they need the most. Similar thing with obesity. There often needs to be some kind of intervention, such as a medication, to offer enough relief for someone to break the cycle and start making changes. Willpower alone isn’t always realistic.

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