Posted by Ron Hill on December 1, 2009, at 2:49:39
In reply to Re: I'm an exercise skeptic, posted by SLS on November 27, 2009, at 4:07:34
Scott,
I agree that the patient may be unable to exercise due to severe depression-induced anergy, amotivation, and anhedonia. However, let's not dismiss the fact that exercise improves brain functioning. That's beyond dispute. For example, it is well known that exercise increases BDNF; and this pays very large rewards.
Please scan the links, my very good friend:
http://www.cma.ca/multimedia/staticContent/HTML/N0/l2/jpn/vol-31/issue-2/pdf/pg84.pdf
http://www.ulbruxelles.be/facs/ism/docs/behaviorBDNF.pdf
http://www.physci.ucla.edu/research/GomezPinilla/publications/ReviewHormesis.pdf (click down to access all 14 pages)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/g441495247401673/fulltext.pdf?page=1
http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=pdf&file=000223730
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2614307/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2597158/
http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v33/n11/full/1301671a.html
http://bmbreports.org/jbmb/jbmb_files/%5B42-5%5D0905250942_(239-244)BMB222.pdf
http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/62/5/633
http://svaynman.com/images/exerciseBDNFcognition.pdf
http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/88/5/2187
-- Ron
dx: Bipolar II with ultra rapid cycling and mild OCPD
600 mg/day Trileptal
200 mg/day Lamictal
500 mg/day Keppra
90 mg/day Nardil
1.9 mg/day Deplin (taken with methyl B-12 and P-5-P)
Dark therapy via LowBlueLight glasses------------------------------------------
> I think that this is another case of needing to acknowledge the interindividual differences that exist in the presentations of what we are all calling "depression". I never tried performing vigorous aerobic exercise every day for 3-4 weeks. I have lifted tons of weight, though. My exercise schedule comprised 4 times a week with alternating muscle groups. I did this for years without gleaning any benefit for my depression. There was a time when I did take brisk walks of 5 miles every day. Again, no help.
>
> I think one needs to respect the potential for depression to render one nearly motionless with paralyzing psychomotor retardation and suffocating anergia. To intimate that a person with such a presentation can exercise if they were only to try hard enough can insinuate that they perhaps are somehow inferior and simply do not want to do what might be necessary to get well. Of course performing exercise is generally a good thing. But that doesn't mean that everyone is capable of it. Fortunately, there are other ways of treating depression. Exercise is not a necessary component of most treatment regimes. Actually, there are a few doctors who believe that intense anaerobic resistance exercise like weight-lifting can make someone feel worse instead of better - something about depleting brain amines. I don't know if I agree with this, though.
>
>
> - Scott
poster:Ron Hill
thread:926857
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091127/msgs/927651.html