Exercise Beats Depression

Hi, I just thought I would check out your site since I saw it listed in my mother's HM magazine. Is this site new? Just wondering because your Bodies in motion section seemed a little small. Anyway I don't know what other topics you will include in the bodies in motion section but I thought I would put in my two cents as someone who exercises. Exercise for me is pretty easy because I have been participating in sports on and off starting at the age of 6 to the ripe old age of 29. People say I am lucky because I have good genetics for exercise and I can not disagree. However, and there is always a however, although I can claim I have a six pack it doesn't really matter to me because I don't go running around with my shirt off and never will. Exercise has a more important function for me, it keeps me sane, happy or in other words is my best means to fight depression. I had to learn the hard way that the less active I become in life the more things seem to fall apart. Even if exercise itself isn't the solution, maybe being able to exercise acts as a measure of my quality of life. Who knows? The other thing I need to stress about exercise is the need to combine aerobic activity with weight trainng.

You can not do one without the other especially if your goal is to lose weight. Again, I am no expert but I have found through personal experience that combining the two is an exercise necessity in the war against the bulge as I presume most people are trying to lose weight. I'll put it to you this way. After being depressed and not eating and smoking and drinking coffee as my regular diet I willfully stopped taking paxil(not something I would recommend to anyone) because it wasn't working. Started cycling and lifting weights like I use to before my son was born 2 1/2 years ago. Again, I have been told I have good genetics for this stuff and have never been significantly over weight(when I eat I eat like a pig, but keep in mind I don't eat junk and don't crave junk.) Since then I have gained 10 pounds and am most certainly losing fat around my waistline. I know for a fact that the results would not be possible if I only cycled or if I only lifted weights. And last but not least you don't have to go to a gym to exercise. Go for a walk, bike ride, jog or join a sport. If you have kids, rather then sitting at a table and watching play in the park try playing with them. I guarantee they will outlast the most fit adult. Don't believe me, try it yourself! AR