Exercise and Depression

Exercise and depression. They sound like they'd go together like oil and water. In reality, a better analogy would be food and hunger. Working out once won't cure your depression, but it'll keep it at bay for a while or at the very least, lessen it.

I don't have to convince you that exercise is great. It's literally an anti-depressant. Not only that, but it's addictive too. Anyone that has been through an intense workout will tell you that they feel much better afterwards no matter how chaotic their life is. This is because exercise actually burns cortisol, the hormone produced by the body under stress (oh and causes inflammation of the organs, no biggie). We all know that regular exercise has a massive amount of benefits like lower cortisol levels, improved sleep, and higher confidence. So, why is it then, that someone who is depressed is more likely to skip the gym?

Depression is an absolute master of manipulation. Despite someone being able to think objectively, they'll convince themselves that there's no point in doing much of anything let alone going for a run. 
This is not an easy thing to combat. I can't speak for others' depression as there's varying degrees. In my experience, there are a couple of mental tools that helped me stay consistent with my goals during slumps.

The first is habit. Forming healthy habits early, when you're not down and out will help you prepare for the future battles you can't see coming. When eating right and exercising is second nature, there's less decision making involved which means less of a chance that you'll convince yourself to not lace up your running shoes. Feed your auto-pilot healthy routines on your good days, so that he can help you stay consistent with your goals on your bad days.

Knowledge. Do your research on how your body helps your brain when it's a well oiled machine. On the other side of the coin, research how toxins from a crappy diet can wreak havoc on your brain and cause you to feel all sorts of uncalled for emotions. Look into the studies being done between the brain and gut flora. Read all the books you can on the topic of perception. Know that handling a situation is important, but making sure you perceive a situation properly is foundational to a healthy mind. Perceiving a situation the wrong way could send you spiraling into a depression. Choosing to look at it as an opportunity, could make your day even better despite having another hurdle to deal with. The more you arm yourself with knowledge, the more prepared you'll be for that future inner argument about exercise.

There's a fantastic book by Mark Manson called "The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck." In it, he describes the assumed framework for motivation. It looks something like this: 

Inspiration → Motivation → Action.  

While this framework isn't exactly wrong, Mark pointed out something extremely important. This looks like a 3 step process when in fact, it's actually a loop. And the fantastic thing about this loop is you can start anywhere in it to acquire the drive to do something. Although when you're depressed or in a rut, inspiration and motivation are often in short supply. So scrolling through all of those motivational Instagram posts may not do the trick. One thing we can always rely on however, is action. That's something that is always in our control no matter how we're feeling. 

So hop in the loop with action. Take the action of arming yourself with knowledge and forming the good habits that will turn your future battles into easy wins. Good luck!