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Hacker News
Exercise helps my ADHD, but it requires quite a bit of sequential cognitive processing to actually get to the point of starting it. Adderall makes this initial part much easier. I expect something parallel is happening in those with depression.
by geye1234
Personal experience: Exercise did not help with my severe depression. Out of sheer desperation, I started exercising and eating way better. My health improved significantly, dropping 75 pounds.. but the depression still remains. I was just as depressed after 6 months of daily walking (3-5mi/day) as I was before. Left the house depressed, returned home depressed.
All that to say, I think IMO exercise can help improve general daily mood, but it did not really do anything for my overall depression.
by Molitor5901
You will find your answer in DJ Shadow's "Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96":
by 01284a7e
It should be encouraged but even accounting for side-effects, taking a pill is easy. From personal experience, when I'm heavily depressed, I can barely get out of bed or eat. Forget exercise.
What do you mean exercise isn't treated like real medicine? Doctors have been trying to advocate for people to be more active to help with basically every major health issue for decades. People complain about "ThEy JuSt WaNt To SeLl YoU pIlLs" as if it's not the people who want to solve their health issues by just taking the correct combination of magic pills.
You can be sold exercise too. Physical therapy exists. Personal trainers exist. Gym memberships, gym influencers, gym culture, and gym products all exist. It's not the inability to sell you a product that stops people from exercising.
by xboxnolifes
Aren't depressions coming with side-effects like inability to do anything at all? The block is somewhere else to overcome before even thinking about exercise and the brain might have a good reason to block it (e.g. some local energetic/metabolic failure and the brain forcing a "safe mode" to prevent further damage). It's like telling to people with endothelial damage that exercise would do them good when in fact it would cripple them further (e.g. from long covid).
by storus
I have depression, clinically treated with SSRIs. My exercise regimen now is 8-10 hours a week of swimming, cycling, and running. I find that the exercise helps lift my mood a lot, but also if I lose my ability to exercise it is far less catastropic to my mental health than if I stop taking the SSRIs.
My exercise volume varies throughout the year because of physical health concerns (sickness, injury, combination of the two), and I notice it and will become mopey, but it's far from the crippling anxiety and depression that sets in if I miss my SSRIs for a few days.
But this is just anecdata, treat accordingly.
Just because a thing is true doesn't mean you can apply it. There are vast numbers of active ingredients discovered or developed that are effective in curing many deceases but there aren't "drugs"/pills with it because we haven't found a delivery mechanism for them to be effective where they should in the human body.
Going back to the subject: Have you ever been clinically depressed or dealt with people in that predicament? Getting up from the bed is already a huge win for that day, let alone exercising and doing it consistently and regularly. Even taking medication regularly can be a hit or miss.
So, yeah the prescription is easy to write and thank god it's real and effective, but that's only ~5% of the work.
by PedroBatista
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- Hacker News
- Exercise helps my ADHD, but it requires quite a bit of sequential cognitive processing to actually get to the point of starting it. Adderall makes this initial part much easier. I expect something parallel is happening in those with depression.by geye1234
- Personal experience: Exercise did not help with my severe depression. Out of sheer desperation, I started exercising and eating way better. My health improved significantly, dropping 75 pounds.. but the depression still remains. I was just as depressed after 6 months of daily walking (3-5mi/day) as I was before. Left the house depressed, returned home depressed.
All that to say, I think IMO exercise can help improve general daily mood, but it did not really do anything for my overall depression.
by Molitor5901 - You will find your answer in DJ Shadow's "Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96":by 01284a7e
- It should be encouraged but even accounting for side-effects, taking a pill is easy. From personal experience, when I'm heavily depressed, I can barely get out of bed or eat. Forget exercise.
- What do you mean exercise isn't treated like real medicine? Doctors have been trying to advocate for people to be more active to help with basically every major health issue for decades. People complain about "ThEy JuSt WaNt To SeLl YoU pIlLs" as if it's not the people who want to solve their health issues by just taking the correct combination of magic pills.
You can be sold exercise too. Physical therapy exists. Personal trainers exist. Gym memberships, gym influencers, gym culture, and gym products all exist. It's not the inability to sell you a product that stops people from exercising.
by xboxnolifes - Aren't depressions coming with side-effects like inability to do anything at all? The block is somewhere else to overcome before even thinking about exercise and the brain might have a good reason to block it (e.g. some local energetic/metabolic failure and the brain forcing a "safe mode" to prevent further damage). It's like telling to people with endothelial damage that exercise would do them good when in fact it would cripple them further (e.g. from long covid).by storus
- I have depression, clinically treated with SSRIs. My exercise regimen now is 8-10 hours a week of swimming, cycling, and running. I find that the exercise helps lift my mood a lot, but also if I lose my ability to exercise it is far less catastropic to my mental health than if I stop taking the SSRIs.
My exercise volume varies throughout the year because of physical health concerns (sickness, injury, combination of the two), and I notice it and will become mopey, but it's far from the crippling anxiety and depression that sets in if I miss my SSRIs for a few days.
But this is just anecdata, treat accordingly.
- Just because a thing is true doesn't mean you can apply it. There are vast numbers of active ingredients discovered or developed that are effective in curing many deceases but there aren't "drugs"/pills with it because we haven't found a delivery mechanism for them to be effective where they should in the human body.
Going back to the subject: Have you ever been clinically depressed or dealt with people in that predicament? Getting up from the bed is already a huge win for that day, let alone exercising and doing it consistently and regularly. Even taking medication regularly can be a hit or miss.
So, yeah the prescription is easy to write and thank god it's real and effective, but that's only ~5% of the work.
by PedroBatista