My therapist says that depression is a disease of the brain, not a disease of the muscles. The muscles still work. So get up and work your muscles and do what ya gotta do. He says I can keep the house clean, and cook nutritious meals and do all of that other motherly stuff even when I feels like I can’t. I want to know if he’s ever experienced depression, or if he’s just going by what the books said.
I have this argument with myself everyday. For me, exercising just temporarily makes you think of the treadmill and not the sadness. The endorphines get going and help some but later, I am back to where I started. When I had my breakdown and I was waiting the 5 weeks to see a pdoc (guess you have to slit your wrists to get in any earlier), I found that I had no desire to do anything except jog. I hadn’t been jogging regularly for months, but once the depression hit I was jogging every day and sometimes twice a day.
It helped stop my brain from spinning on obsessive thoughts. In other words, the physical pain and exhaustion pushed the bad thoughts for an hour or two. My therapist was very encouraging about continuing the exercise and I believe it has helped my recovery.
