From WebMD…

‘Exercise and Depression: Expert Q&A
Robert Thayer, PhD, on how to make exercise part of a depression treatment plan.
By Katherine Kam
WebMD Feature
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Depression is draining. It can make any type of exertion — going to the grocery store, cleaning up the yard, or exercising — seem daunting.

“Energy loss is one of the key characteristics of depression. Some people feel that it’s the key characteristic of depression,” says Robert E. Thayer, PhD, a psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, an expert in managing mood, and the author of Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise.

He points to exercise as one of the best ways for depressed people to lift their mood. “Exercise generates energy,” Thayer says.

Here are Thayer’s answers to questions about exercise and depression.

Can depressed people get into a vicious cycle if they feel stressed and overeat and don’t exercise and then become more depressed?

“Definitely. People self-regulate with food, and I think that’s one of the reasons for the obesity epidemic that’s occurring — the combination of increased stress and depression going on for a long time and people needing to self-regulate, using food and other substances for doing that.”
If depressed people begin to exercise instead, what happens physiologically?

“There’s a whole series of things that happen when we begin to exercise. As we get up and begin to move and exercise, there’s a general bodily arousal state that occurs. It includes many different systems of the body — everything from metabolism to cardiovascular activation, various kinds of endocrine changes in the brain, various kinds of hormonal changes and shifts.”

What happens psychologically when people start to exercise?

“It depends on the degree and level of exercise. With moderate exercise, [in our research] we’ve been working with short, brisk walks [of] five or 10 minutes. The primary mood effect in that situation is increased energy. Secondarily, sometimes — but not always — there’s a tension reduction.”

“With more intense exercise — for example, an hour of heavy aerobic exercise — there is a reduction in energy and a reduction in tension. But oftentimes, after recovery [from the workout], there’s an energy resurgence that occurs.”

Do depressed people have to exercise intensely to get a mood boost?

“No, it actually can occur fairly quickly. One of the things about our ’short, brisk walks’ studies really illustrates this point. People can think about … how tired they’re feeling, then get up and begin to walk — walking moderately, maybe quickly down the street for a short while. Immediately, they will begin to feel differently. As we’ve found with short, brisk walks of five to 10 to 15 minutes, there’s a significant increase in energy. They begin to feel it almost immediately.”

“When people are seriously depressed — with clinical depression, of course — it may be not as efficacious as it would be for people in a normal state, but it still will have an effect.”‘

For the full article, please click [1] here.

I’ve been speaking on the benefits of walking and jogging and aerobic exercise to lift mood for years. This is basic, yet important information for all.

Cheers,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

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It’s all about how to quiet the voices in your head, turn down the volume on negative emotions and turn up the volume on positive emotions and happiness, [4] click here for instant access!