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A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

greatergood.berkeley.edu

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Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15-25 hours a week? What the heck were you doing? The cumulative fatigue had to be insane, and if you were chasing a goal, it'd be easy for that to get in your head. For me I find ~3 hours a week are what I need to feel good. As things ramp up (like they tend to in the summer) I tend to need those big rides, but if I do have to back off (say, winter) then as long as I don't go below an hour every other day, I'm good.

Endurance exercise baby. The hours roll by. Probably closer to 16 during the high season. 25 was event weeks.

I get that, but that's like 3-5 hour days most of the day of the week. I ride a lot myself, but those numbers would start interfering with normal life stuff for me.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#242
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That question doesn't even make sense, and I don't understand your reference to the western world. All points in my body are equally part of 'me'.

Try to think of it this way… if we had brain transplant technology and you swapped brains with someone so that your brain ended up in their body and their brain in your body… which one do you think would be you ? I’m not sure there’s any clear answer to this as it touches on so many known and unknown unknowns. But, the assertion is that there most people (especially in western intellectual traditions) would consider…

I doubt that brain transplants will ever be possible, but in that hypothetical neither one would be me.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#243
post #219

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. Luckily I had been building up the habit for years in advan…

I think the only people who think exercise solves depression are those that have never suffered clinical depression. Dopamine from exercise is pretty much a temporary relief. Just like drinking, smoking, or binging netflix - they provide temporary relief and let us ignore the root problems. Therapy is what finally taught me how to actually process my thoughts and feelings, and let me make real progress against depres…

The meta analysis linked in the article we're discussing wouldn't really agree with you.

> Physical activity had medium effects on depression (median effect size=−0.43, IQR=−0.66 to –0.27), anxiety (median effect size=−0.42, IQR=−0.66 to –0.26) and psychological distress (effect size=−0.60, 95% CI −0.78 to –0.42), compared with usual care across all population. The largest benefits were seen in people with depression, HIV and kidney disease, in pregnant and postpartum women, and in healthy individuals. Higher intensity physical activity was associated with greater improvements in symptoms

I think comparing exercise to drinking is pretty silly and doesn't suggest a wide berth of knowledge on the topic. I'm glad to hear that therapy was the silver bullet for you, but if there's one thing that's _abundantly_ clear about mental health treatments, it's that there's no one-size-fits-all solution.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a non-spiritual, non-religious perspective, as an atheist I don't believe that souls exist, I don't subscribe to any religious teachings and I don't do any kind of meditative or spiritual stuff. That said, weight training completely transformed my relationship with my body. You can only lug a big hunk of iron into the air so many times before you start thinking about how much we really have in common with a gori…

>non-religious perspective, as an atheist This is a completely off-topic tangent, but as a fellow non-religious person I'm sorry: Being non-religious and being an atheist are mutually exclusive positions. Being non-religious means you are apathetic to religion thereof. God(s)? Souls? Afterlife? Commandments? Nope, you don't care about anything concerning religion one way or another. Being atheist means you believe in…

This distinction between non-religious and atheist is new to me and sounds like an Americanism. Over here in Europe if you don't believe in a god you're an atheist, simple as that.

Some people are agnostic, meaning they are religious but don't subscribe to a particular god or doctrine. However no one makes the distinction between atheism and non-religious that you're making here. It may have something to do with the fact that society in the US is so pervasively religious that the only way to escape it is to explicitly identify yourself as an atheist.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#245
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cycling and kayaking are great, but they don't deliver the repetitive impacts necessary to maintain high bone mineral density as we age. Have to add other sports to that mix.

Wait, the impact is beneficial? I've been worrying about running out of cartilage in my knees throughout my life. I had considered running to be a limited time thing that will just run out at some point.

Yes the impact is beneficial

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#246
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MTB has pretty much all the good stuff in one. You're outside, in nature, breathing fresh air, it's cardio and mindfulness on the climbs and flow and focus on the descent, add adrenaline to taste. The community is pretty rad too, it has the atmosphere of surfing and hiking combined.

Please tell me more. You might influence someone to try a new hobby

Something else, compared to road riding, is that most mountain biking is very safe. Typically you are riding fairly slow on dirt surfaces that you can stop on. Basic falls (falling over) are common, but increasingly rare as you get more experienced. There generally aren't other people posing you risk as there is in group or solo road riding, it's just you and nature.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#247
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That question doesn't even make sense, and I don't understand your reference to the western world. All points in my body are equally part of 'me'.

Try to think of it this way… if we had brain transplant technology and you swapped brains with someone so that your brain ended up in their body and their brain in your body… which one do you think would be you ? I’m not sure there’s any clear answer to this as it touches on so many known and unknown unknowns. But, the assertion is that there most people (especially in western intellectual traditions) would consider…

There are two of you now. And two of the other. There are tons of brain-like networks of cells in the body, no? In and around the heart and such and I'm certain we'll find more in the next few decades. The fun part begins in how capable either of you and the other will be in establishing a functional union.

What's gonna happen when "your brain" recognizes your old body in with another head? Will "it" get horny? Jealous? Angry? Happy?

Phantom pain and stuff like that comes to mind and the question of how many dimensions (not levels on scale) of consciousness there are in this physical world/reality ...

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>non-religious perspective, as an atheist This is a completely off-topic tangent, but as a fellow non-religious person I'm sorry: Being non-religious and being an atheist are mutually exclusive positions. Being non-religious means you are apathetic to religion thereof. God(s)? Souls? Afterlife? Commandments? Nope, you don't care about anything concerning religion one way or another. Being atheist means you believe in…

This distinction between non-religious and atheist is new to me and sounds like an Americanism. Over here in Europe if you don't believe in a god you're an atheist, simple as that. Some people are agnostic, meaning they are religious but don't subscribe to a particular god or doctrine. However no one makes the distinction between atheism and non-religious that you're making here. It may have something to do with the…

I'm Japanese(-American) and thus have that perspective on it, more Japan than America.

Being non-religious means you simply aren't concerned. Are there gods? Great. Are there no gods? Awesome. Jesus is the one God? Okay. Zeus leads his pantheon of gods? Nice.

Atheism meanwhile is a deliberate belief in no religion. It's different from simply not caring about religion at all, because you do care about religion insofar as to not believe in it.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#249

I walk to the store when it's reasonable. I wasn't top tier at it, but the most exercise I could tolerate was playing DDR, because there was a game to it that isn't just physical activity. These kinds of articles are always annoying because it invites a certain kind of person who will gush unendingly about how great exerting yourself is. For me, exerting myself sucks, it is only something I want to do when it's attac…

> For me, exerting myself sucks Changing your tires and doing an oil change also sucks, not doing it will suck way more in the long run. I exercise, not because I like it but because it's the right thing to do. Whatever misery you feel while doing it will be a fraction of the misery you'll feel when your body will give up on you if you don't do it. It's an investment in the future, probably the single most beneficial…

Well, investment in longer happier life, and for the guys the feeling of strength and full control of one's body is pretty significant upgrade too. It changes mental perspective on just about anything in long run too.

Yes, if the worst decisions in life can be ie smoking cigarettes or being lazy couch potato, the best is easily to work out somehow, anyhow.

Re: A new study looks at how exercise can help alleviate anxiety and depression

#250
post #219

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. Luckily I had been building up the habit for years in advan…

I think the only people who think exercise solves depression are those that have never suffered clinical depression. Dopamine from exercise is pretty much a temporary relief. Just like drinking, smoking, or binging netflix - they provide temporary relief and let us ignore the root problems. Therapy is what finally taught me how to actually process my thoughts and feelings, and let me make real progress against depres…

> I think the only people who think exercise solves depression are those that have never suffered clinical depression.

What about the studies with clinically depressed people who treat their symptoms as effectively as SSRIs with exercise? I'm thinking specifically of a running therapy study that was done recently, I haven't read the study linked by OP.

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