<story><title>A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression</title><url>https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_type_of_exercise_is_best_for_mental_health</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>lethologica</author><text>I’ve had major clinical depression for the last 15 years or so. The first 4 months of this year was the lowest I’ve ever been. During that time though I was going to the gym 6 days a week doing weight lifting and then I would cycle 50km a day on top of that. All of it was on autopilot however, my depression just wouldn’t allow me to focus on anything but it.&lt;p&gt;Luckily I had been building up the habit for years in advance but that was the most I had ever exercised and it was also the most I had ever been depressed. In my case I don’t think the exercise helped at all. Perhaps if I hadn’t of been exercising maybe I wouldn’t even be here now though… I’m not entirely sure. Finding the right medication and getting therapy has been what has really helped me. With those two I can see an almost day and night difference but with the exercise I noticed no difference at all. At least I had a great physique though!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ant_li0n</author><text>Yeah, same here.  I don&amp;#x27;t exercise as much as you - 3, maybe 4 times a week - but yeah, it doesn&amp;#x27;t help.  Sure, it feels good right when you&amp;#x27;re doing it (sometimes, hah), but the feeling doesn&amp;#x27;t persist.  Some days, I actually feel &lt;i&gt;worse&lt;/i&gt; emotionally after exercise.&lt;p&gt;I agree with you about therapy and medication: in my experience, they are the only things that work.  Expensive though.&lt;p&gt;As a side note, I sort of feel triggered by this kind of article.&lt;p&gt;Depressed? Have you:&lt;p&gt;- exercised enough?&lt;p&gt;- drank enough water?&lt;p&gt;- slept enough?&lt;p&gt;- meditated enough?&lt;p&gt;- gotten outside enough?&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s passed as &amp;quot;helpful advice&amp;quot; by well-meaning people but always makes me feel like I&amp;#x27;m not &amp;quot;enough&amp;quot;.  If I&amp;#x27;ve done all those things but I&amp;#x27;m still depressed, I must not have done those things &amp;quot;enough&amp;quot;.  Does that make sense?  I&amp;#x27;m so tired of trying to explain how hard I&amp;#x27;m working, I just don&amp;#x27;t talk about it with people for fear they&amp;#x27;ll bring out &amp;quot;the list&amp;quot; of things I ought to be doing, and I&amp;#x27;ll have to explain that, yes, I get 8 hours of sleep a night.  Yes, I drink a gallon of water a day.  Etc.</text></comment>
<story><title>A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression</title><url>https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_type_of_exercise_is_best_for_mental_health</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>lethologica</author><text>I’ve had major clinical depression for the last 15 years or so. The first 4 months of this year was the lowest I’ve ever been. During that time though I was going to the gym 6 days a week doing weight lifting and then I would cycle 50km a day on top of that. All of it was on autopilot however, my depression just wouldn’t allow me to focus on anything but it.&lt;p&gt;Luckily I had been building up the habit for years in advance but that was the most I had ever exercised and it was also the most I had ever been depressed. In my case I don’t think the exercise helped at all. Perhaps if I hadn’t of been exercising maybe I wouldn’t even be here now though… I’m not entirely sure. Finding the right medication and getting therapy has been what has really helped me. With those two I can see an almost day and night difference but with the exercise I noticed no difference at all. At least I had a great physique though!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bratbag</author><text>How much were you sleeping at night?&lt;p&gt;I find that exercise without adequate sleep grinds me down into a twilight zone state of everything seeming a bit unreal.&lt;p&gt;Last time I had a period similar to yours, the problem was too much screen time on social media and gaming, which was disrupting my sleep.&lt;p&gt;I cut those out, started feeling tired enough to sleep again, and bounced back to normality.</text></comment>