Posted by JohnB on May 7, 2000, at 23:20:31
In reply to Re: Exercise; Part II, posted by SeanT on May 7, 2000, at 15:44:07
> "Exercise isn't a panacea, but it has consistently been shown to help relieve (mild forms of) both depression and anxiety."
In my original post, I was quoting from a magazine article, which I passed along because I thought it might be useful to someone. I think "isn't a panacea" is a useful phrase for almost any post giving advice on this board and should be implied by anyone reading such post. (also known as "your mileage may vary".
In the sentence quoted at the top, I added the words "help" and"(mild forms of)" because I believed that without those modifiers, the claim was too broad, and some person on this board might get false hopes. The responses to my original post show just how much variation there can be.
As you guys know, many magazine articles and people quoted in articles use terms such as "depression" in an offhand and nonscientific way, which can mean anything from a mild case of the blues to clinical depression. So I try to do what I think the editor of the magazine should have done in the first place; define terms exactly, or err on the side of conservatism.
The alternative would be to only quote from scientific studies, which sometimes can be pretty heavy going, but a least you don't have to deal with blanket generalizations.
Now, if only I could get my butt off the couch and do some exercise!
poster:JohnB
thread:32437
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000429/msgs/32705.html