Depression Anxiety Exercise
zendoc / March 2023 (530 Words, 3 Minutes)
I watched a touching video of a parrot who danced with the parrot for months to help a parrot pluck out all its feathers because of depression, and the parrot enjoyed dancing, stopped plucking feathers, and finally grew abundantly and returned to a very joyful personality.
Anxiety is based on evidence that I am safe or can be safe (new thoughts and experiences) or memories, and from then on, anxiety is reduced through negative feedback (anxiety and anxiety disorders are different)
Depression can help improve depression if you have evidence or memories that you are not getting worse or that you can get better (depression and depression are different)
The most primitive exercises for humans are walking and running, so in the 21st century, in the gym, we’re still hanging on the treadmill the longest.
Can a treadmill help with anxiety and depression? Of course it helps. First of all, exercising during the time of sunrise activates serotonin and strengthens melatonin at night to normalize biological rhythms, facilitating the regeneration of the body and brain throughout while sleeping. Walking and running are not unconscious acts, so they are consciously based on some purpose and plan, thus stimulating and awakening the prefrontal lobe, dopamine transmission system, hippocampus and limbic system.
Just as taking antidepressants SSRIs, SNRIs, and NDRIs for a set period of time can help with constant exercise, just as they act on the aforementioned neuronal regeneration and neurotransmitters to treat depressive anxiety compulsions, etc.
You can also try to take healing to a higher level by running (whether on a treadmill or on the grass in a park). There is a so-called Runner’s High or Second Wind
When running, lactic acid accumulates in the leg muscles due to anaerobic metabolism, and for a more long-term run, the breath is up to the chin until it is converted to aerobic metabolism, and the heat is stiff all over the body, and I want to give up everything, but finally, as endorphins and anandamides are released, the blood vessels of the heart and lung muscles relax, and it is converted to aerobic metabolism, so running suddenly becomes comfortable and the pain disappears! It is also a positive thought.
Running exercises can become daily self-denial training through this process. Self-denial means that in a difficult situation (even if you make it on purpose), you somehow hold on and break through the gaps and break through. It’s so hard when I start that I can’t even imagine if I’ll be able to make it to the end, but all animals and living beings, especially humans, have the inherent power to break through crisis situations (extra energy through endorphins and anandamides), so if you persist, you will eventually do it.
Second Wind (self-denial) through running exercise habits Furthermore, Runner’s High may be an opportunity to maximize the effectiveness of exercise for anxiety and depression. It can act like a powerful herbal medicine for treatment-resistant depression, like esketamine or electroconvulsive therapy.
So, what if you administer that good endorphin, anandamide, externally? Everyone knows very well what the consequences are if you habitually use narcotic analgesics, which are substitutes for endogenous endorphins, even though you do not have cancer pain. Likewise, there is no psychological conflict, but what happens if you habitually use hemp or THC, which are substitutes for endogenous anandamide, becomes a slacker waster. Living organisms, especially the human body, must change while maintaining homeostasis, and if homeostasis is unilaterally destroyed through exogenous substances or stimuli, it will become a waste or die. That’s why the process of no pain, no gain is so important. That’s why drugs are not used casually, but only when it is difficult enough to die or when it is absolutely necessary.
So how can we program Second Wind/Runner’s High through running to improve depressive anxiety? Heart rate tracking on smartwatches is the first key. In order to achieve Runner’s High, it is not too fast a heart rate (aerobic-anaerobic-lactate concentration, body temperature), it is not a slow heart rate, and the optimal heart rate is already proposed. Second, it is a smartwatch heart rate linkage game that stimulates the prefrontal lobe, dopamine channels, and the hippocampus and limbic system’s attention, plan execution, new memory formation, motivation and reward.