The Exercise Prescription for Depression and Anxiety

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you went to the doctor about treating your depression or anxiety, you might expect to be written a prescription for Zoloft or Xanax. But if you went in to see Dr. Jasper Smits, he might write you a different kind of prescription, one that instructed you to take a jog around the block. Dr. Smits is a professor and clinical psychologist, as well as the co-author of Exercise for Mood and Anxiety: Strategies for Overcoming Depression and Enhancing Well-Being. Today on the show we talk about why he likes using exercise as an option for patients who struggle with mood disorders, anxiety, and even general stress and anger, but don't want to do talk therapy or take a medication. We discuss how exercise has been found to be as effective for depression and anxiety as medication (and of course has a much better side effect profile), why it works, and whether a particular type of exercise is better for particular disorders. We then spend the rest of the conversation digging into the catch-22 that surrounds depression and exercise: if exercise is good for depression, but when you're depressed you don't feel like exercising, how do you find the motivation to get going with it? We discuss strategies for starting and sticking with exercise that can help not only those who struggle with mood disorders and anxiety, but anyone who is looking to make physical activity a habit. Check out the show notes at aom.is/exerciseformood

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're at McKay here in Welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:10.5	Now, if you went to the doctor about treating your depression or anxiety, you might expect
0:14.0	to be written a prescription for Zoloph for Xanax.
0:16.0	But if you went to see Dr. Jasper Smith's, he might write you a different kind of prescription,
0:20.2	one that instructed you to take a jog around the block.
0:22.6	Dr. Smith is a professor and clinical psychologist as well as the co-author of the book, exercise
0:27.0	for mood and anxiety.
0:28.7	We've talked about why he likes to use exercise as an option for patients who struggle with
0:35.0	mood disorders, anxiety, and even general stress and anger, but don't want to talk therapy
0:39.1	or take a medication.
0:40.1	We've discussed how exercise has been found to be as effective for depression and anxiety
0:43.6	as medication, and of course has a much better side-effect profile, why it works, and whether
0:47.9	a particular type of exercise is better for particular disorders.
0:51.0	We then spend the rest of the conversation digging into the catch-22 that surrounds
0:54.4	depression and exercise.
0:55.4	If exercise is good for depression, but when you're depressed, you don't feel like exercising,
0:59.8	how do you find the motivation to get going with it?
1:01.9	We discussed strategies for starting and sticking with exercise that can help not only those
1:05.3	who struggle with mood disorders and anxiety, but anyone who's looking to make physical
1:08.8	activity a habit.
1:09.8	Out of the shows over, check out our show notes at aam.islash.
1:13.2	Exercise for mood.
	...

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