Posted by Cybele on November 13, 2003, at 9:27:14
In reply to Re: Should I go off Wellbutrin? Help!, posted by Stavros on November 12, 2003, at 21:19:31
> I am 35 yrs old and able to exercise however my mind always feels like it's at work and that irritates me. Like while I am here my mind is concentrating on something totally different. I sort of have dysthmia but more anxiety which leads to depression. I quit work so I could get back to a routine working out, helping at church but no such luck. I traveled all the time for my work and it would just drive me crazy to have to do both work and deal with the other place my mind is? I have never experienced any drowsy with Well XL in fact the opposite. I am going crazy. . . again. Thans for the advice you cannot go wrong working out in any of these issues
> >
I have found that for exercise "to work" as an antidepressant and (I believe) to help with anxiety, you need to do it long enough and frequently enough. A little bit here and there will not work. At first you will feel lows on your days off, but once you have built up a base of endorphins in your body they will stay high on your days off and you can even cut back a little once you are no longer depressed (e.g., 30-40 minutes for 3-4 days a week).The minimum exercise I have found to work as an antidepressant is to get into the cardio zone (70-85% of maximum) with your heart rate and stay there for 40-45 minutes and do this 5 or more times a week. My current favorite exercise is a Precor Elliptical which I do on a cross-training program for 45 minutes. I also like spinning classes, but my current club does not offer 60 minute classes. Running mixed with power walking are the absolutely best, if your knees can take it. This last summer, as I was becoming depressed, I was doing the elliptical trainer 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes, and that was not enough to have any sort of AD effect.
I have found that even being at the low end of your cardio zone (70% of maximum) is OK, but you must stay there for 45 minutes. I suspect you can even go a bit lower than 70%, but "leisurely walking" is definitely not enough of a workout to make a difference. I used to ride a Lifecycle on manual level 1 and read a book or watch TV (Quincy, M.E. reruns, LOL) for an hour. Doing that 5 days a week for one month pulled me out of a bad depression. Then I started riding outdoors and even completed a century (100 miles) with a local bike club. I always got back into trouble when I thought I didn't need the exercise and worked at a desk job for a few months.
I see it this way. We humans evolved being very active all day, not sitting in cubes under fluorescent lights in front of computers. Our bodies were designed to be active. This is why we are so much depression now because of the rise of the high tech industries, with more people sitting at desks all day. Our bodies evolved to be really good at hunting, gathering, and making everything we needed.
HTH!
poster:Cybele
thread:278928
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031111/msgs/279342.html