Why Exercise Hasn’t Helped Your Depression Or Anxiety
If you have depression or anxiety, or if you’re trying to improve your mental health, you might have heard that exercise can help. Maybe you’ve tried it, hoping for the best, and… it didn’t work.
That can be incredibly disheartening, and I’m sorry if that’s been your experience. It doesn’t have to be.
Here are some common reasons why your previous exercise attempts might not have had an impact, with some tips to help your next attempt go better.
You’re expecting a cure.
Exercise is not going to fix your mental health. It’s not a cure, and I’m not claiming that it is.
I have had depression and anxiety for most of my life. I’ve been running since I was about 8 years old and lifting weights for about 20 years. Guess what… I still have depression and anxiety. Exercise didn’t make it go away.
Instead, consistent long-term exercise allows me to thrive despite my depression and anxiety. I’m generally happy, optimistic, and content. I’m high functioning. I’ve achieved a lot that I’m proud of. My low times aren’t that low anymore, and my highs are much higher.
I also managed to get off all medication in 2013 and haven’t needed it again since. I’m not saying that will be the case for everyone, please listen to your doctor’s advice regarding your medication.
I’m absolutely positive that I would be in a very different place right now if I didn’t run and strength train, but it didn’t cure me.
If you think exercise is going to magically fix your mental health, you’re going to be disappointed. The goal should not be to get rid of your depression or anxiety, but instead to be able to flourish despite them.
That’s where exercise comes in. Exercise can help you have more good days, help you take control of your life, and help you feel and think differently about yourself so you can take actions that help you lead the life you want. That’s incredibly valuable.
Even if you understand that exercise isn’t a cure, you might still have unrealistic expectations. You might think exercise should make you feel great every time you do it. That’s also not true. You’re not going to be bursting with joy every time you work out.
I can say with certainty that I’ve never regretted a workout, and most of the time I feel better after I move my body.
But in three decades of running, I think I’ve had a true “runner’s high” on maybe four or five occasions. I’ve experienced something similar in strength training where I get my deadlift form just right and it almost feels like the bar jumps off the floor when I lift it. It’s incredible, but it’s only happened maybe three times out of hundreds of workouts.
If you’re expecting to feel a workout-related high all the time, you’re also going to be disappointed. Those experiences are the exception.
Some workouts will boost your mood a lot, and others not so much. That doesn’t mean that exercise isn’t working. It’s still doing incredibly important things under the surface, slowly changing your brain chemistry and your self-identity.
For more on the “expectations vs reality” of exercise and why you shouldn’t expect every workout to be a good one, watch this video from my Strength Training for Anxiety Program.
You haven’t given it enough time.
In many of the studies on the effects of exercise for mental health, changes were observed after at least 6-8 weeks of consistent exercise. In some studies, it took longer.
My experience matches that research. Many of my clients start feeling better within 2-3 months, but it really depends on the person.
The effects keep building the longer you do it. In fact, your brain chemistry and brain structure actually change over time in response to exercise.
You’ve probably heard of endorphins, which are natural painkillers that are released during exercise. There are many more substances released in both your body and your mind that impact your mental health, including neurotransmitters, myokines, endocannabinoids, and neurotrophic factors. They’re responsible for the mood boost and other mental health benefits you get during and after exercise.
Someone who responds really quickly to exercise might have a brain that’s very sensitive to those chemicals and feels them very strongly.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case for everyone. If you haven’t felt better with exercise in the past, your brain might release less of those happy chemicals when you work out, or you might be less sensitive to the ones that are released. But there’s good news.
Over time, your muscles and your brain start to release more of those feel-good chemicals. Even more importantly, your brain starts to build more receptors for those chemicals.
When more of those happy chemicals find more of their receptors, you’re going to feel the effects more strongly. It takes time for those changes to happen in your muscles and your brain.
At first, the positive effects of exercise can be subtle. If you’re not paying attention, you might miss them. Often the first thing you’ll notice is a better mood and more energy on the days you work out, better sleep, and less stress.
But a hectic day at work or fight with your spouse can obscure those subtle positive changes. It’s not that they’re not there, they’re just hard to notice.
I recommend keeping track of how you’re feeling on a daily basis to be able to pick up the initial, small changes that can make a huge difference in your day. Write down some notes in a journal or on your phone.
The really big effects take even longer. The changes in thinking patterns, the feeling of deep resilience and self-confidence, and the shift in your self-identity take time to develop. It might be many months or even years of consistent exercise before you wake up one day and realize, “I feel like a different person now”.
I had been strength training consistently for about 8 years before I stopped taking antidepressants. Looking back, I had probably been feeling, thinking, and acting differently for a few years before that. That’s still a good 5-ish years of consistent training before my life really changed.
I know 5-8 years sounds like a long time, but those years will pass anyway. And if you dedicate the time to exercise consistently, you’ll get so many other benefits along the way.
Make sure you’re not writing exercise off after a couple of weeks. The effects do take time, but they’re so worth the wait.
You haven’t figured out what works for you yet.
Exercise has been a game-changer for my mental health, but not just any type of exercise works for me. For me, it’s heavy strength training and running. If I do yoga, or dance class, or go for a swim, I just don’t feel as good.
You might think there’s a certain way you’re supposed to exercise. Maybe you go to bootcamp or HIIT classes or you start jogging. You give it plenty of time, and you just don’t feel better.
You might think “working out just isn’t for me.” Maybe that’s not true. Maybe it’s just that the specific workouts you’re doing aren’t for you.
There’s no “right” or “best” way to work out for your mental health. There are some guidelines, but within those guidelines there’s a lot of flexibility. What works for you might not work for someone else, and vice versa.
The basic guidelines are:
About 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity cardio exercise, or about 75 minutes per week of vigorous intensity cardio, or a combination of the two. Plus at least 2 days a week of strength training.
You don’t have to do your cardio or your strength training in a particular way.
For cardio you can walk, jog, dance, swim, cycle, row, kayak, work in the garden, play soccer with your kids, whatever feels good for you.
For strength training, you can use machines, dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, sandbags, resistance bands, or your own body weight. You can lift light weights for a lot of repetitions, or you can lift heavy weights for a few repetitions. I usually advocate for heavy strength training, but it’s not right for everyone. The feel and experience of different types of strength training are, well, different.
I can tell you from my own experience and from my experience with clients that it’s possible to find the type of exercise that lights up your brain in just the right way. It just takes some trial and error and keeping an open mind.
If you’ve tried a certain type of exercise and you didn’t like it, try something else. Keep trying until you find what works for you. It’s out there.
Your intensity is off.
Exercise “intensity” means how hard you’re working. With cardio it’s often measured based on heart rate, and with strength training it’s based on how heavy the weights are or how close you get to “muscle failure”.
As intensity increases, your experience of your workout changes. A really slow walk might feel too easy and doesn’t stimulate all the mood and energy-boosting chemicals in your brain. A medium intensity is usually ideal for basking in those feel-good brain chemicals, and high intensity usually feels uncomfortable and unpleasant at the time but has bigger long-term benefits for your brain chemistry.
I say “usually”, because all of this depends on the person. Some people thrive on really hard exercise and are able to tolerate the discomfort and still feel great afterwards. For most people, once exercise intensity passes a certain threshold, it’s not going to give you the same mental health boost as more moderate exercise would.
The fitness industry is unfortunately still largely about “no pain no gain” and high intensity workouts. Many people assume this is the right way to exercise and don’t understand why they’re killing themselves at the gym every day and not feeling better.
If that’s you, your exercise intensity is probably too high.
Just as it’s important to find the type of exercise that feels best for you, it’s also important to find the intensity of exercise that makes you feel best.
With some trial and error you should be able to find the intensity that makes you feel good, and you should aim to stick with that intensity most of the time. That will probably change over time as your brain adapts to being a consistent exerciser.
For cardio, I recommend starting with moderate intensity, which is the intensity at which your heart rate and breathing are elevated a little. You can tell if you’re at moderate intensity using the “talk test”. Start moving, then try to speak and sing a song out loud. You should be able to speak in full sentences but be too out of breath to sing.
For strength training, there’s a system you can use to help you balance the high effort that gives you long-term changes with the more moderate intensity that makes you feel good. It’s called Ramp Down Sets and I wrote a full article about it. You can check it out here:
Choosing The Right Weights For Your Mental Health
You’re only addressing one aspect of your treatment.
There’s not one single intervention that’s going to make a difference on its own. It might take a combination of exercise, therapy, medication, mindfulness and meditation, gratitude, healthy eating, stress management, and more.
I attribute most of my mental health improvements to exercise, but I know that therapy, building a meditation habit, healthy eating, and working on my mental health in other ways made a big difference too.
If you want to feel and think differently, you have to work at it in as many ways as you can. Commit to taking action for your mental health and don’t give up!
For more mental health resources, check out:
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
If You Need Help
My FREE Strength Training 101 eBook will teach you exactly how to put together your own strength training program. You'll learn what exercises to include, how many sets and reps to do, and how to make sure you're getting the results you want. That eBook isn’t specific to mental health, but it can help you get started.
For even more guidance, check out my Strength Training For Anxiety Program. This 12-week done-for-you workout program is guided by an app which shows you how to do each exercise and lets you track your progress. It also comes with unique features specifically designed to build mental resilience as well as physical strength and help you manage anxiety and improve your mental health.
For individualized help, I’m happy to be part of your support team! Schedule a FREE consultation to find out about personal training options, focused on strength training to improve your mental health.
