Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression • Hacker News Board

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#281

Post by SecondHandTofu » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 8:18 AM UTC

bmicraft wrote: post #236

Jtsummers wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5k is a common distance for runs. 2k would be a shorter run/walk event, it's more common when you have kids participating. It's not confusing, just normal language. No cults involved unless you think running is a cult. The "k" is for "kilometer" in case you're still confused.

5k is not a distance. 5km, 5 thousand feet or yards are. I've never heard of this weird and unnecessary "abbreviation"

It's extremely common, even in the USA, although in the USA it's more limited to running communities. In the UK, NZ, Australia, road running is common enough that anyone would know what you mean, but it's a bit less of a thing in the USA.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/5K

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#282

Post by tsoukase » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 8:24 AM UTC

Aeglaecia wrote: post #221

lazarus01 wrote: post #209

I can see how therapy can be helpful for some people. But I find it to be a big scam from my own personal experience. What incentive do they have to give you immediate and durable results? Why do most only take cash? I did some ML work with an addiction psychiatrist at the peak of the opioid crisis. He said,”To pay my bills, I have to treat rich people.” I find taking long walks and speaking candidly about how I’m fe…

and people wonder why i call psychiatrists legal drug dealers - what incentive does a psychiatrist have to fix someone , when they could make 10x more money keeping that person dependant forever

Any psychotherapist, and mainly psychiatrists, tries to create a heavy dependence to their patents, not so chemical but behavioral and psychological, which they call patient bonding. They don't want to instruct the patient and make them independent. It's shown that this causes a consistent improvement and simultaneously establishes their dominance long-term.

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#283

Post by jimnotgym » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 8:50 AM UTC

yomismoaqui wrote: post #68

cheald wrote: post #2

This is a finding that keeps coming up, and I've certainly found it true in my life, but there's a significant chicken-and-egg problem in that depression frequently precludes the motivation to exercise, and if you don't already have a deeply-disciplined routine to overcome the lack of motivation, people won't do it. Exhortation to develop those good habits in the good times, I suppose.

Motivation is fleeting but routine persists. When there is something that you want to do regularly (exercise, doing the final boring part of some sideproject, cleaning the house...) you remove willpower from the equation and set a day and a time. For example, everyday from 18 to 19 I work on my sideprojects, or saturdays from 16 to 18 is house cleaning time. There is no question if I want to do it, it is set at that…

I'm not even back from work at 18-19 every day, or even most days. It varies by hours. By the time I have had dinner I'm thinking about settling down to settle my mind so that I might sleep that night. I'm also mentally exhausted after a day in my job. How do I create a habit without a time gap?

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#284

Post by jimnotgym » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 8:55 AM UTC

bluerooibos wrote: post #109

smeej wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no question if I want to do it, it is set at that time and I have to do it, period. Gosh it must be nice to have at least an ordinary amount of executive function skills. Is it really this easy for neurotypical people to build routines? That's really all it takes? I don't see how this removes willpower at all. It just determines what time you have to use it.

All you need to do is go to sleep before 12 every single night and wake up at 7am without fail, hit the gym and crank out a few sets of squats, hit the pool and the sauna, read a chapter of that book, and then cook yourself an amazing breakfast, all before 9am. If you're a real go-getter, though, you'd wake up at 6am and do some vibe coding for an hour on that side hustle. Super simple.

Agreed, and then I just jump back in time two hours so that I can get to work on time, because that is what successful people do.

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#285

Post by chegra » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 9:05 AM UTC

ElijahLynn wrote: post #90

The audiobook Spark by Dr. John Ratey, psychiatrist is a great listen with a bunch more evidence based arguments to support that exercise is better then drugs for depression. I highly recommend the audiobook as it is read by him and he is very enthusiastic about his research. The one quote I remember from the book is that he stopped prescribing Prozac and started prescribing treadmills...

I did a summary here: https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-spark-how-exerc...

It's in my top 15 books that changed my worldview.

Some key highlights:

1. In 2001 fit kids scored twice as well on academic tests as their unfit peers.

2. German researchers found that people learn vocabulary words 20 percent faster following exercise than they did before exercise, and that the rate of learning correlated directly with levels of BDNF.

3.Specifically, every fifty minutes of weekly exercise correlated to a 50 percent drop in the odds of being depressed.

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#286

Post by jimnotgym » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 9:13 AM UTC

andy99 wrote: post #158

roguechimpanzee wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you’re being smart but these things are all possible if you want to make them happen

People would rather blame external factors and not take responsibility. It’s actually insulting to people who work hard that some people assume they have it easy somehow, like the “must be nice” comment upstream. Not everyone takes the view that you can’t control what happens to you, it’s pretty easy to see who does.

I have to leave the house for work at 7am. I get back sometime between 6 and 8pm. When I get back I'm mentally and physically shot. I mean, yes I could get an easier job that pays less I suppose, lose the house etc.

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#287

Post by aswegs8 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 9:15 AM UTC

unsupp0rted wrote: post #7

I take this to mean therapy for depression (particularly for men) is barely effective at all and exercise is not quite as barely effective at all. If therapy for depression were a pill, I'm not sure it'd demonstrate enough efficacy to get approved.

I don’t think that conclusion follows. These results don’t mean “barely effective.” They mean that, on average, people who get therapy or exercise end up noticeably better off than people who don’t. When researchers translate the results into intuitive terms, therapy typically moves the average person from the middle of the pack to around the top 30 percent, and exercise to roughly the top 35 percent. That’s the same general magnitude of benefit seen with many approved medications, including antidepressants themselves. Depression trials have large placebo effects, which makes the numbers look smaller, but that doesn’t mean the treatments are doing almost nothing.

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#288

Post by jimnotgym » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 9:22 AM UTC

jjulius wrote: post #202

_whiteCaps_ wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely jealous of your ability to either: - fall asleep at 9:31 and function on 7 hours of sleep - or fall asleep at 10:30 and function on 6 hours of sleep If I'm not getting 8 hours, I feel like a zombie the next morning.

Sorry to confuse, it's 9:30 every night. Anything less than 7 and I'm wrecked. 7.5 is ideal, but I also feel great with 7. My non-scientific guess is that I spent so much of my teens and 20s getting less than 6 hours that my body is delighted by 7+ lol. But yeah, I imagine I'll need more as time continues to pass and I get older. /shrug Edit: To say nothing of my mild fear of an inadequate amount of sleep in middle a…

My neurodiverse mind often won't let me sleep that early. It just whirls with problem solving that keeps me up all night if I go to bed in a whirl. Yes I know how to meditate. Imagine spending years at it and finding yourself in a mental state that means you can't clear your mind any more. You can't 'let it go', it just comes straight back in a more aggressive way with flash backs and visions. What would you do now?

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

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Post by jimnotgym » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 9:42 AM UTC

bunnybomb2 wrote: post #243

kayodelycaon wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don’t like being snarky here but this is an absolutely perfect example of what I was talking about in my last paragraph. I didn’t mention energy because energy has no relevance. I’ve literally broken down crying because I really wanted to work but my brain refused to move. I was having such a great day and was really motivated. I spend hours and absolutely exhausted every bit of energy I had trying every adv…

You arent the only human whos had a issue with not getting things done, its normal, and its hackable. Brains are hackable. I dont mean to say you implied it, but its easy to dig a larger hole when you believe you are special, or you have tried "all" the advice. Every problem has a solution, and I beg you to search deeper to what you do even in task-paralysis states. That might be where your mission comes from. It hel…

You sound like you are just repeating the same mistake in telling a nuerodiverse person to 'just do this brain hack, it worked for me.' It will never work for them. Never. It will just make them feel worse about themselves.

I am brilliant at certain aspects of my job. I have read the books, had coaching etc. And yet today I still miss important meeting because I don't realise it is time to go...with a watch on my arm, outlook reminders popping up etc. I just hold attention so deep that I am never going to notice. It is what makes me great at my work. So now I am a manager I have developed some solutions. I hire people who compliment me, and I am open about my problem. It is normal for my team to walk in my office and say, 'are you coming to this meeting?'

Re: Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

#290

Post by WackyFighter » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 10:00 AM UTC

wk_end wrote: post #25

WackyFighter wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much like the sibling comment I started walking around the local park before spending more time hiking. I live semi rurally though and wouldn't want to walk in an urban environment. I normally feel much better after walking and cycling. Also I think doing something repetitive like walking allows you to think, tune out of other things.

Everyone is different, so I say this not to tell you how to feel but just to offer a different perspective: Walking in urban environments can be its own sort of joy. Cities (well, good ones anyway) are full of life and energy and humanity, have unexpected nooks and crannies, and a rich sense of dynamism and excitement. Even late at night (as long as you're safe), a quiet city can be a source of serenity and melanchol…

No. Urban environments suck to walk around. What you wrote is utter drivel.

If one needs to justify it by quoting authors, that suggests it isn't self evident and they are just trying to justify something that they know isn't good.