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Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

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Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#51

Post by themodelplumber »

natalyarostova wrote: post #43
themodelplumber wrote: post #19

I personally find that exercise only contributes to good mental health outcomes when it is part of a system that monitors and directly, daily, addresses issues of physical exhaustion. Experiencing exhaustion and a desire to push through it was my personal #1 link to depression and anxiety. I found that just laying in bed and relaxing has a much higher likelihood of vanquishing my depression and anxiety than exercise…

Interesting. Lying in bed is pretty much my #1 link for depression and anxiety (unless I'm sleep deprived and need to sleep).

Well, a lot of people automatically lay down or stay in bed when they already feel depressed or anxious. It's a good position, as "laying down doing nothing" is pretty much as close to minimizing one's own metabolic rate, nervous system usage, etc. as possible.

However I'd say that "laying down because it's all I can do" and "laying down as a conscious way of attending to my personal exhaustion" are two different states of being, with an important difference. The first could easily raise one's anxiety if it seems counter to "what needs to be done" while the second approach is part of a more analytical process (at least in my case) which is hopefully accompanied by fail-overs and follow-ons, like addressing stressors, mentioned above.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#52

Post by themodelplumber »

121789 wrote: post #50
natalyarostova wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Lying in bed is pretty much my #1 link for depression and anxiety (unless I'm sleep deprived and need to sleep).

Same here. And exercise immediately cures it. I wonder why OP is physically exhausted so much

Don't limit it to "physically", just imagine a person who pushes themselves really hard in all aspects of life. That pretty much describes who I was. Beyond a productive person, more like a natural stress-bringer.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#53

Post by hi41 »

For many months now I have been bad at paying bills, filing tax etc due to anxiety and depression. It is like paralysis. But reality does not wait for you. There are consequences like fines and court orders. How have you overcome this? I feel I will be happier if I can manage my duties better.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#54

Post by shanxS »

natalyarostova wrote: post #43
themodelplumber wrote: post #19

I personally find that exercise only contributes to good mental health outcomes when it is part of a system that monitors and directly, daily, addresses issues of physical exhaustion. Experiencing exhaustion and a desire to push through it was my personal #1 link to depression and anxiety. I found that just laying in bed and relaxing has a much higher likelihood of vanquishing my depression and anxiety than exercise…

Interesting. Lying in bed is pretty much my #1 link for depression and anxiety (unless I'm sleep deprived and need to sleep).

Couldn't agree more. Exhausting myself physically during work week some how makes me feel better about myself. Maybe because in process I achieve my fitness goals or maybe I am surrounded by people who do the same and appreciate it, so it gives me a feeling of belonging. What ever the reason, working out makes me happy.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#55

Post by bmpafa »

hi41 wrote: post #53

For many months now I have been bad at paying bills, filing tax etc due to anxiety and depression. It is like paralysis. But reality does not wait for you. There are consequences like fines and court orders. How have you overcome this? I feel I will be happier if I can manage my duties better.

Auto bill pay is a boon.

Hire a tax preparer. It costs more than doing it yourself, but I find we often discount the cognitive cost of just doing a thing when considering whether to outsource stuff.

In other words, build / use systems to minimize the impact of your own limitations on your responsibilities.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#56

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

antisthenes wrote: post #49
bergerjac wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of the bar killing you, what if you flipped the script and went I'm going to dominate this bar

Use whatever you find effective at helping you get through those 5-6 reps, tbh.

And sometimes that's feeling like an invincible lifting machine, other times it's the fear or getting pinned under a quarter ton of iron in front of a whole gym.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#57

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

pjc50 wrote: post #42
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 100 lb bench presses C'mon, no shaming the 100 lbs bench press - I absolutely encourage someone whose benching 100 lbs to bench, because if they work hard pretty quickly it won't be 100 lbs any more. And you raise an excellent point - is exercising the thing boosting the mood, or is the exercising the result of a mood boost.

Ironically I think the parent poster intended 100lb as "completely unachievable for someone with muscular dystrophy", while you've read it as "so light as to be completely ineffective"!

Yes, I realize this now. Whoops.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#58

Post by taneq »

prophesi wrote: post #21
taneq wrote: post #12

I'm interested to see how VR affects overall mental health among gamers. There seems to be some crossover between heavy duty gamers and mental health struggles (just from my own observation) and VR is starting to be a natural progression for gaming. And VR gaming is often a real work-out, focusing on a lot of movement as well as physical dexterity.

I'm interested in this as well. I had a friend play Beat Saber for 3 hours straight, burning literally thousands of calories. He said he felt amazing for the rest of the day. On the flip-side, I personally experienced some serious post-binge depression after playing Talos Principle VR for a few hours. It's not very physically engaging, with a somber atmosphere throughout. I felt so weird taking off the headset and ju…

I've played 1-2 hrs of Beat Saber a day since Tuesday and now I just feel generally achy. Everything hurts. I've lost most of a kilo though. >.>

That weird not-quite-real feeling you get after a lot of VR seems to be a thing though. If you're playing something engaging and emotionally heavy I imagine it'd be even stronger.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#59

Post by jpmoyn »

ec109685 wrote: post #5

How does a study like this control for the fact that if you are depressed, you might not want to exercise that day? And thus it’s mental health that drives how much you exercise, not the other way around?

The study itself addresses that they didn't prove causality between exercise and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#60

Post by drunkenmonkey »

hi41 wrote: post #53

For many months now I have been bad at paying bills, filing tax etc due to anxiety and depression. It is like paralysis. But reality does not wait for you. There are consequences like fines and court orders. How have you overcome this? I feel I will be happier if I can manage my duties better.

Go see a psychiatrist, and get a caseworker.
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