LA Times: Exercise as a prescription for depression

[ijack]

Exercise helps immensely with my depression and ADD. However both of them make making myself start exercising almost impossible :/

[wawa]

So for the past 4 days I've been saying that I'm fucking cranky as shit and overusing the caps lock key and snapping at MH constantly and avoiding my friends.
I had also not worked out all week until last night. Which is my longest stretch of not working out for the past 2 months.
Then last night I worked out....aaaaaand today I'm in a much better mood.
Apparently I'm now hooked on exercise and had been going through withdraw. Or at least that's my theory for why I wanted to scream for four days straight.

/anecdote.

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 26, 2014 14:13:45 GMT -5 wawa said:

So for the past 4 days I've been saying that I'm fucking cranky as shit and overusing the caps lock key and snapping at MH constantly and avoiding my friends.
I had also not worked out all week until last night. Which is my longest stretch of not working out for the past 2 months.
Then last night I worked out....aaaaaand today I'm in a much better mood.
Apparently I'm now hooked on exercise and had been going through withdraw. Or at least that's my theory for why I wanted to scream for four days straight.

/anecdote.

I get like that if I go too long without knitting. Knitting saves lives and keeps me out of jail. I exercise because I must and because I cannot tell ajj to without feeling guilt when I don't do it myself.

[pixy0stix]

My therapist asks periodically if I'm still working out. Damn skippy. It's how I can get to sleep at night.

[orangello]

I totally believe this - my anxiety decreases exponentially when I stick to my regular workout schedule. Plus, I work out at night, and it's like a stress-eraser for me - by the time I'm done, I've forgotten about my work annoyances for the day.

[pt716]

Doesn't work at all for me. My depression and anxiety were worst when I was a college athlete working out 20+ hours a week. Plus exercise makes my tics a lot worse.

[redheadbaker]

It wasn't until I started my ADs that I got any motivation to exercise. But I have noticed increased improvement in my mood since I've started exercising, more so than when I was just taking ADs.

[gpw]

Sept 26, 2014 14:13:45 GMT -5 wawa said:

So for the past 4 days I've been saying that I'm fucking cranky as shit and overusing the caps lock key and snapping at MH constantly and avoiding my friends.
I had also not worked out all week until last night. Which is my longest stretch of not working out for the past 2 months.
Then last night I worked out....aaaaaand today I'm in a much better mood.
Apparently I'm now hooked on exercise and had been going through withdraw. Or at least that's my theory for why I wanted to scream for four days straight.

/anecdote.

Yep.  That's me.  I'm a raving lunatic when I'm not working out.  

[Deleted]

I actually had my annual check up with my dr today and asked about SSRIs due to burn out and general anxiety/stress. After talking things over, she actually prescribed/wrote in my chart to walk 10K steps a day, lol. In all seriousness she said to try, and call in a month or so if I still felt difficulty. And I imagine much like anything in this world what works for many people doesn't cut it for others. No shame in deciding exercise just isn't enough.

[penguingrrl]

That's really interesting. I never exercised really until a year ago and now I can definitely feel it in my mood when I skip it.

[formerlyllizzyb]

My PCP pushes four "treatments" for all her anxiety and depression patients: therapy, meds, phototherapy (so sun!) and exercise. I appreciate that she takes a comprehensive approach.

[sushi]

Sept 26, 2014 14:12:10 GMT -5 ijack said:

Exercise helps immensely with my depression and ADD. However both of them make making myself start exercising almost impossible :/

Yep. Go exercise is a hard command when your body is all thanks, I'll stay in bed, the couch requires too much effort.

[ajj]

Exercise used to help a lot with my depression. This past year has been tough though and I'm not getting the benefits that I used to get. I'm hoping it will get better at some point.

[aurora]

I ran 13 miles today and what I feel right now is tired and sore.

ETA which is depressing because marathon traning wasn't this hard a decade ago.

[sillygoosegirl]

Sept 26, 2014 14:12:10 GMT -5 ijack said:

Exercise helps immensely with my depression and ADD. However both of them make making myself start exercising almost impossible :/

Truth.  I think the only reason exercise got me out of the horrible depression I had my junior year of college was because suddenly I had to commute on my bike 10 miles per day and didn't feel like I had any choice in the matter.  If exercise was just something my health care provider wanted me to do, when I already felt like I couldn't handle everything going on in my life, it simply would not have happened.  It can be super effective, but it's about as easy to get started on your own when you are already depressed as it is to "just snap out of it."  I think this needs to be taken into account when suggesting it as a treatment.