Health: physical and mental, individual and public.
Discussions, issues, resources, news, everything.
See the pinned post for a long list of other communities dedicated to health or specific diagnoses. The list is continuously updated.
Nothing here shall be taken as medical or any other kind of professional advice.
Commercial advertising is considered spam and not allowed. If you're not sure, contact mods to ask beforehand.
Linked videos without original description context by OP to initiate healthy, constructive discussions will be removed.
Regular rules of lemmy.world apply. Be civil.
That's lovely but as the article ticks away at the end pretty unrealistic.
When people experience more severe forms of depression simply offering exercise may not be completely helpful, for example, when someone is struggling to get out of bed let alone get to the gym.
That's on them. They'd no different than them being to depressed to get up and take their medicine.
If exercise is the best treatment for depression, and someone refuses to exercise.... well, enjoy depression I guess.
Really living up to your namesake there cause judging by that comment you're dense as fuck.
It's fucking reality bro.
There isn't going to be a miracle cure. If exercise rant really does treat depression effectively, and someone won't exercise... what the fuck else is supposed to happen?
If you don't go to your cancer treatment cause you're too tired from previous treatment.... I guess you don't get treated.
Do you want people to come pick up depressed individuals and start moving their arms for them??
The fucking reality is you don't know what you are talking about. You don't know depression, you never had it so kindly stfu when talking about a sickness you know exactly zero about.
With anti depressants to help keep it under control, adding exercise has helped me for sure. Ymmv of course.
Since the study wasn’t actually linked (as far as I can tell on mobile), here’s a link to it.
https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-075847
From the conclusion: “Depression imposes a considerable global burden. Many exercise modalities appear to be effective treatments, particularly walking or jogging, strength training, and yoga, but confidence in many of the findings was low”
I always worry about studies like this because it always seems to me like it might be difficult to determine if exercise is the catalyst to better mental health or if someone’s bettering mental health through any number of other kinds of treatments or even changes in a persons social life was the catalyst for exercising more. When I’m feeling particularly depressed, I absolutely don’t feel like exercising, and when I start to feel hopeful for the future, I find myself wanting to exercise more. Same with “just go outside and walk through the woods”. I only feel like doing that on days my depression isn’t particularly bad.
After a couple of decades of people telling me exercise would help, I finally decided to try it last year. For 6 months, I did at least some form of exercise at least every other day which, coming from years of being completely sedentary, was quite a change. And at the end of all of that...nothing. I was in better shape of course, but I didn't feel any better, didn't have any more energy, and wasn't any less depressed. That's just one anecdote of course, but my point is that it really sucks seeing studies continually say exercise is the best thing we've got because if that's true then I am well and truly screwed lol
I'm in the same boat. I've tried almost everything; hiking, running, biking, swimming, climbing... All it ever gives me is sore muscles the days after, but apart from that it doesn't change my mood in any way. In fact, it usually frustrates me since I don't feel any perceived benefits, but it still costs me time, effort and pain. Doesn't help that I'm very sport-averse because of negative expeiences in my youth.
I've been clinically diagnosed with depression and other fun stuff for nearly two decades now. Exercise is great as a stimulant to your emotional fortitude but it hasn't "fixed" shit for me like they said it would. "Here's a bottle of 60mg pills, give it a month to feel better". If I had a plank of wood every time I heard that after trying their holistic idea, I'd have built my own house to get away from this fucking dismal housing market.
However, I think our problems paint the picture for us: Mental health issues are treated more like chronic staph infections than the psychological trauma they are. Everyone's damage is so acutely unique to them, because it happened to them, so treatments need to be equally as personal. I don't have the source on me, so take my statement how you wish, but nearly half of all diagnosed Depressives are given drug-only treatments.
The solution is to expand therapeutic services to help more people (i.e. government programs to subsidize the cost of services to the psych practice) and only use medications as a short-term supplement during treatment. This would help those afflicted to reach the point they can do the more holistic approaches and wean off the drugs.
Then again, that doesn't get the pharmaceutical corporations paid... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
On a more personal note, we also need better therapists. The ones I have must've had some shit they're dealing with of their own because my sessions were typically abysmal and fruitless. Maybe if I had someone who cared a titch more my brain wouldn't hate me so much. It's probably just another pay-to-win scheme; I'm poor so I'm doomed to shitty service. Idk. I just work here, man.
It won't be implemented, because personal trainers are more expensive than (most) antidepressants.
Rec centers are all over the place. They are cheap and they have decent equipment. They also have people who help. You don’t need a personal trainer to go for a walk or lift weights.
I'm always worried I'll do something wrong and drop something on my head or something and end up on some zoomer's tiktok snuff video.
Probably stupid but anxiety is commonly co-morbid with depression so I doubt I'm the only one.
You can get an exercise prescription in the UK. It's basically a pass to use the local (public) leisure centre. Your don't get a trainer but you do get to use the equipment.
Most forms of exercise do not require a personal trainer.
This has been known for quite sometime, it’s amazing to me that it’s not one of the first recommendations for treatment
Have you ever tried exercising when depressed? I'm overweight and depressed. I know exercise could make me feel better.
But how the fuck can I do it? I can barely muster the motivation to shower more than once a fortnight.
It's not ignorance. I used to be a runner and know the Ashtanga yoga first series by heart. Also did judo.
But actually doing anything is way fucking beyond my reach.
So no. It's not a panacea.
It's just another "smile and you'll feel happy" comment.
Assuming exercise is a valid treatment.....
It's not just another smile and be happy. You CAN exercise. It's not impossible, but you're making a choice not to.
You want someone to snap their fingers and make you better, apparently. But that's never going to happen. You can accept/engage with the treatment, or you can continue to be depressed. That's just reality.
I’m aware that depression causes major lack of motivation, nothing in my comment insinuated the opposite. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be the first avenue for treatment, ahead of medication.
I think this study suffers from confirmation bias. The people who actually got themselves to do excercise were already intrinsically motivated enough to actually do it. That way you self-select for a positive result.
I didn't read the actual study btw, it's possible they already adjusted the results due to this.
Not one time have my doctor's recommended it for me. Just a new pill or nothing. Guess I'll buy some running shoes.