Comment by throw_away_555 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by throw_away_555 | Hacker News Reader

This won't get a lot of votes, but it ended up as diet and exercise for me.

When I dropped caffeine and alcohol my anxiety went away. When I exercised my depression went away.

I tried a lot of things, but it ended up figuring out that I wasn't eating well or working out.

Now I do crossfit. I know, I know. It's a cult blah blah. But go try it. You need to be exercising every day to get all that endorphin goodness and plus, you meet a lot of fun people at crossfit. The community keeps me coming back. I don't get that biking (which I love) so I don't do it as much as crossfit. And I hate running. The key is to keep doing it, and that social component works magic. If you can work out at a home gym every day - good for you - but I lose interest and stop, then I get fat and lazy and depressed again.

As for food, I'm not a fan of cooking. But I found paleo then keto. And I avoid all the stuff you're told to eat. "healthy" grains, for example. I don't drink coke. Basically avoid all sugar. I'm basically paleo to paleo-keto end of the spectrum.

I really didn't think it would work but there it is.

I second this. I started keto and my depression went away, and although there is still anxiety, it is much lower, and it feels like I can DEAL with it, whereas before I felt helpless.

I was a neurology professor at a children's hospital in my previous job, and there is a ton of research being done studying the neurological effects of a low-carb diet, and they are, across the board, incredible. A common treatment for kids with epilepsy is the keto diet, so we had a lot of research and expertise in this area. Half of the department was on the diet, and I have been for close to two years now. I will never stop it. My wife and kids as well (though the kids are more paleo, since they have closer to 75-100 g carbs/day)

can you talk about what a typical keto diet is like? what foods does someone on a keto diet eat?

i'm not a big alcohol person and had been paleo for many years. one day i get a gift from a friend, some special coffee. i don't drink coffe but i gave it a try. wow! it was great, i had a cup a day for a few days and then bam!

i was in bed with a rage-depression ten times worse than a normal bout. i couldn't work for three days. i can't describe my thoughts because they are still so embarrassing. on the forth day, i figured out, well, the whole time i was depressed i thought the 'trigger' was a text from a friend. i re-read the text. it didn't even say what i thought it said.

the next day i had another coffee followed immediately by a panic attack. then i put it together and tossed the coffee. i stopped all caffeine, which for me meant no chocolate, for two weeks. i was dieing for some chocolate. so i had some with the kids on a sunday. two days later i was depressed and on a very short fuse.

now i've gone about two months with no chocolate. i sleep much better. i don't snap at people. i don't get angry. in a sense, i miss the highs very much but not enough to want to go back. i've just accepted that my brain doesn't react to caffeine like most people.

I have a similar experience with caffeine. I really enjoy the boost that I get from coffee and chocolate, but then the buzz wears off and I crash, feeling irritable, tense, and on edge. It's the withdrawal effects of the caffeine, and it can go on into the next day (unless, of course, I take in more caffeine, which just repeats the cycle). Some people like us are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine (and alcohol) and are just much better off without it. Better sleep, more even energy and moods throughout the day, etc. I, too, miss the coffee buzz and the social aspects of it, but for those of us that are more sensitive to caffeine, the negatives outweigh the positives.

Diet and exercise is extremely important if one wants to beat depression.

i have found exercise to be extremely useful when battling depression. diet also, but not nearly as much.

Agree. I am now doing LCHF and exercising every day. It made a HUGE difference. If you don't believe that it will work for you, try it anyway for a few weeks and see what happens.

how do you deal with being injured?

I've gotten really into running and enjoy the high, but right now I have an (unrelated) injury and can't run and I feel like I'm going stir crazy :(

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