Exercise for depression

[crimycarny]

1. I saw a study that showed high intensity exercise was more effective than SSRIs

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5430071/

I lost my son to suicide a little over 4 years ago. Though never diagnosed with a mental illness, I think he most likely would have been diagnosed with depression along with an anxiety disorder.

During the time he was struggling (during the COVID shutdown), I remember urging him to exercise. I had started running at age 19, and it had a huge positive effect on my anxiety (still running at age 66).

After he died by suicide, I kept berating myself for such a stupid suggestion. That's when I started researching exercis and it's effect on depression. Several studies showed that high-intensity exercise, like running, had a more significant positive impact on depression than SSRIs. So I guess it wasn't that dumb of a suggestion, I just wish I'd pushed it more.