Comments on: Thank You, God!

By: Staci

Staci — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:58:59 +0000

I seriously dislike exercise, mostly because I am prone to obsessing once I get started. But.

Over the past two months, I’ve been dipping my toe tentatively into the shark-ridden waters. I’ve been going slowly, giving obsession the cold shoulder, playing hard to get with that blue-eyed eating disorder.

You know what? I’ve stayed out of the grip so far and I feel pretty good about my humble little 60-day success. Even better, my anxiety has lessened because I feel healthier and that’s one more thing not to worry about. When my Yikes List shortens, my depression eases.

So…it’s a lengthy anecdote with a long cascade, but I say exercise helps depression for some folks.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:55:14 +0000

I too spent years being wildly annoyed by perky people preaching the gospel of exersize and its effects on their mental state. Then I started doing it. I still go through the wild mood swings from my own mental disorders, but I feel the lenghts of my depressions shorten, my ability to function when depresed increase, and the ability to hold on to perspective strengthened. You are right that there is no silver bullet here, but for some of us (me at least) a regular workout regimine has made a difference.

By: scott

scott — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:59:25 +0000

I am pleased to see everyone’s comments with the exception of Roma’s. They may be correct, but they are seriously raining on our parade. Meanwhile, I am eating my Chips Ahoy…

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:39:32 +0000

Not a comment: Liz, can’t seem to access the comments to this part of your blog.

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:49:54 +0000

I was relieved in a way when I read this a week ago on MedPage. I was feeling a little guilty for avoiding aerobic endeavours. But then I used to work out quite rigorously when I was in grad school at Columbia back in the ’90s. I used to run several miles up and down hills every other day. I was in good enough health to run 7 miles in one go. But I still cycled into depressions and mixed states on a regular schedule in spite of all of that exercise. So I gave up (with a little prodding from the depressions). But I wish I could get back into a running routine.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:03:01 +0000

Reminds me of the brief verse in one of Jane Kenyon’s poems, the voice of a so-called friend: “You wouldn’t be so depressed if you really believed in God.” Right–and if you train for the next Philadelphia Marathon you will feel like God’s daughter. In other words, a crock.

By: David

David — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:12:42 +0000

Hi Liz, I remember that during my first years of clinical depression, I had a couple of two to three month periods when I thought I was better and that I was going to stay that way. One time in particular I all of a sudden seemed to get back my energy and was riding my bike, lifting weights, losing weight, blah, blah. Then one day, right in the middle of my daily 20 minute session on my exercise bike, that dark shadow gripped me by the back of the neck and threw me back into bed. I went right back into my old rountines of sleeping 14 hours/day and struggling to function when I was awake. It felt like a sucker punch when you feel you’ve been tricked into thinking everything is better and it ends in an instant for no apparent reason. That’s when I knew that depression had a life of its own and something like exercise was not going to stop it. Exercise is great but I have no problem believing the results of that study. I love that graphic with your comments. You crack me up, Dave

By: scott

scott — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:27:11 +0000

I am SO glad you found this. I have never felt any effect from exercising other than getting real tired. This is awesome. And I love the Jane Fonda touch…..

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:07:43 +0000

Eureka! I eagerly await any empirical support for the very treatment I have used when in a deep depressive funk, i.e. crawling into bed with a plate of oatmeal cookies

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:52:55 +0000

Hallelujah! I knew it!

By: Roma

Roma — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:23:55 +0000

Maybe I read this study wrong, but all they did was take people and record their current exercise habits.

Taking people who are depressed and getting them to consistently exercise is different than what they did here.

Of course there is no causation between not exercising and being depressed, but they didn’t prove that starting to exercise regularly doesn’t improve depression in sedentary people who are depressed.