Defeat Depression with Exercise

Drum roll please...... Scientists are studying that exercise may be just as effective as anti-depressants!!

Exercise has already given us so many positive effects on the body, simply because movement is what our body is made to do, but as I have talked about in a previous article, exercise is so effective on the mind also!

PCOS peeps, I am sure, will all be able to sympathize and appreciate how depression can cause a lot of discomfort. Not just to ourselves but to those around us. I know from my own experience negative thinking was my main cause of depression, which I believe stemmed from missing out on exercise!

The craziest feeling for me was that the “gloomy bug” came at times of "happiness" -- for everyone else. Christmas, family gatherings etc… but it was at these times I wasn’t exercising my body which made me realize that exercise or even just movement of any sort is so very much important to include in everyday life!!

I had always read articles during my Fitness Training regarding exercise being beneficial in treating mild depression, this I had already personally experienced, but felt that it did a lot more than be just beneficial!! But … now those super-duper guys at Duke University have shown that exercise IS ON PAR with drugs for treating depression.

Investigators found that adults treated with group-based exercise did just as well as those treated with antidepressant drugs.

Dr Blumenthal from Duke says "There is growing evidence that exercise may be a viable alternative to medication." Although they are still some more tests until they decided to tell to tell their patients to throw their pills off a cliff and run back home!!

Also, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre said in a study solely dedicated to looking at how exercise reduces depression, that people who exercise for 30 minutes 3-5 times a week showed a 50% drop in depression. Even those who exercised moderately registered a 30% decline. This is great news for women with PCOS.

Being a fan of "the natural way" I am pretty glad that pharmaceutical companies are unable to patent exercise!!

So here are some of my tips on exercising the blues away:

• Write exercise into your daily routine, look upon it as essential as eating!
• Write down how you feel after you have exercised and put it on your fridge, when you look at each day it will remind you that it makes you feel good!
• Exercise for 30 -35 minutes per day -- a brisk walk is great!
• Just get out there and do it; it isn’t a chore!!

Stay fit and healthy,

- Gemma

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