this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
200 points (97.6% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27006 readers
1392 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Just a simple question to those of you suffering from depression, anxiety or are just going through a tough time. Now or sometime in the past.

Have you tried exercising, and did it help? What kind, and how did it make you feel?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] dfc09@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

What I'm getting from reading these responses is that exercise can alleviate some of the crushing effects of depression, but because it's difficult and time consuming, you'll need a better reason for it than just "I'm suppose to" otherwise you'll just be making your life harder and creating an unhealthy relationship with exercise.

Everybody has to fight through the first few months to genuinely create a good workout habit, but if you start small (such as a 20 minute walk 3-4 days a week), you'll be able to ease into the really good stuff without so much hardship. The plan is to be working out for life, so what's the rush?

I believe the army created negative associations in me about exercise, since they used it as punishment and I always had the anxiety of my next PT test hanging over my head. It took a few years to disentangle myself from those connections and begin working out the way I wanted to and really seeing the results I was looking for. Now, after ~5 years of very frequent exercise, I'm finally getting to the point where I feel like it's a net positive to my mental health.