Can exercise cause depression?

[constanze]

@Ambivalid

(bolding mine) This sounds like perhaps you have a pre-existing depression that is merely unearthed, or picked raw, by the concept of exercise and the seemingly impossible task needed to be done. It’s not the exercise; it’s how you feel about yourself and your body in relation to the exercise.

I assumed from the first post that the OP has a real depression.

Every study that I’ve heard of says that exercise is beneficial for depression - though they mean usually “taking a 30 min. walk in nice weather with a friend if possible” (not easy to do with the current weather - though a treadmill plus video might work) because of not only increased blood flow but other chemical changes (not runners high) in the body. They also comment on the problem that one of the major symptoms of depression is lethargy - curling up into a ball on your bed not wanting to do anything because it’s so pointless, meaning that the cure is self-defeating unless you have a good friend/ buddy to jolly you up for a short walk.

OP, can you get a dog? Because it provides companionship plus walkies (unlike a cat), dogs are very beneficial, esp. for elder people who often suffer from loneliness and depression. (Not that I assume you are old - it’s just that old people have been studied more in that regard).

[constanze]

@Rucksinator

One more ancedote: I hate running. Always have. When I was in boot camp I never had a problem with pushups or situps, but the 2-mile run was a bitch for me. One time I was talking to a buddy about it, and I said something about how I just kept thinking “7 more laps, 6 more laps, etc…” He looked at me incredulously and said “Don’t look at it like that. Think ‘one more lap’, then ‘OK, one more lap’, then ‘OK, one more lap’,etc.”

snip

I don’t know how you work out, but maybe it would work out better for you if you quit going in with a certain regemin in mind but instead just decided to work out until you were ready to quit.

IANapersonal trainer

Very good advice. Also known as the Tom Sawyer principle: painting a fence can either be a chore used as punishment … or a priviledge which you pay for. Depends on managing to switch the viewpoint.

[Thudlow_Boink]

If by “exercise” you mean putting on special clothes and going somewhere and engaging in pointless, mindless, repetitive activities for about an hour—blech. I can see why anyone would hate that.

But “exercise” in the sense of “exercise is healthy” or “exercise will make you feel better” really means any physical activity, including vigorous sex, playing basketball or Ultimate Frisbee, walking to the store, shoveling snow, dancing, chopping firewood, or giving your kid a piggy-back ride. I find that I can bear to do exercise that has some sort of payoff built in, whether that payoff is something that I’m accomplishing, or enjoyment built into the activity itself.

[isaiahrobinson]

Physically, no: exercise is actually one of the most effective ways of trying to combat depression.

Psychologically, it all depends on how you view it. Once you start seeing results, even minor ones, it can feel really satisfying. But before you’ve started exercising, or before you start seeing any results, it can feel stressful and boring.

I would recommend it though; it really is worth it once you start seeing results, even if that just means running for 5 minutes when you could only walk it before. You have to get through the initial phase though, and that phase can last a while, at least to some extent.