Low-intensity exercise connected to decreased depression | Hacker News Reader

Low-intensity exercise connected to decreased depression

techexplorist.com

32 pointsinstagib16 comments

Or maybe reversely, the depression level is low enough that patients can get out of their bed and do some exercise?

“I believe depression is legitimate. 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

It's not the quote I was looking for as the one I remember is from a video. He has done a few interviews about his ADHD with depression and the quote is something to ponder or look at as a checklist. I have a better outlook and health after exercising or doing manual labor to generate a healthy sweat.

It's a fake quote:

https://checkyourfact.com/2022/05/10/fact-check-jim-carrey-d...

Ah, someone else with a jimcarrey___ username put it out there and Jim Carrey only has a twitter account. Funny how the brain re-records things as I remember it as a video and more harsh off the cuff. I have to throw it in the -unknown pile for quotes. Can’t edit the comment.

If you’re a quotes person, here’s a decent site starting with some David Goggins quotes. https://wisdomquotes.com/david-goggins-quotes/

Depression is not grief. It isn't primarily about emotion. It's the inability to actually do anything. At least in my own case. I feel bad because I can't do anything, not the other way around. So helpful advice is unhelpful. Drag me outside for a walk, make me food, push me into bed, give me Far Side cartoons to look at. Don't tell me to do it myself; it won't happen and just makes me feel worse.

In the highest intensity cases, yes.

However, for most people outside that band, it comes in waves. In those less intense waves depressed people often have a window of opportunity to kickstart one thing to make the next wave better. Others have some social structures in place that will help them get kick started.

Further, it ignores high functioning depression, where people are able to go through many daily activities with support.

All that to say, this may not be actionable for every depressed person, but it may be actionable for many depressed people. There should be no shame if it isn't actionable for you. It might give hope, however, for those going through a bad wave right now such that the next time they're good enough, they can ask for help kickstarting the next feasible time.

Tai chi works wonders here. If you have a Tai chi group meeting every morning near you, you can do worse than join them.

The conflation of depression as a temporary or voluntary state or something that can be miracled away with lifestyle is ignorant and subtly victim blaming. There are many people with treatment-resistant depression who do not respond to any of these tactics, therapy, or almost any medication.

I understand what you’re trying to say here and I agree we should be careful prescribing lifestyle changes for serious cases of depression (or any disease for that matter). However, there are a significant number of people out there who _don’t_ have treatment resistant depression and would benefit from lifestyle interventions. I think it’s a good thing for research to be done in that area, and being dismissive of something helpful for many because it doesn’t help those with serious cases isn’t a particularly healthy place to start a conversation from.

Well good for them, while you accuse me of what you're doing. There is no win-lose suggested, and you're inventing a conflict and blaming me for it. There is negligible research done on TRD and psychiatry is largely an evidence-free clinical practice that doesn't measure or examine the organ it's supposedly treating in any meaningful way. Most psychologists, psychiatrists, and often MDs merely dump bucket of molecules into people's bodies and hope for a net positive outcome by trial-and-error without understanding individual pathophysiology. Genetic tests like GeneSight have so far proved to be selling false hope.

I had depression and it was eventually cured through lifestyle changes (getting a job, learning a skill, and making new friends). What would you say about my case?

sampling size n=1

Rather the point is that depression is... more of a shared symptom really. We're mostly grasping at straws with our treatments, but we do know that some cases (and we assume, causes..) are amenable to lifestyle factors. Others are assuredly not.

It's unhelpful for either case to assume that the other side doesn't exist.

Any time you're out of homeostasis, you should expect depression to be following close behind.

Do you reply with this when anyone tells you their experience?

Just to clarify, is your argument that the data shows no link between depression and lifestyle factors, and that I'm an outlier, so my experience can be dismissed?

I find high intensity (mountain biking, climbing, gravel biking) works for me. They key really is extended time (1-2+ hours)

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