" No Pills ...Exercise Fights the Blues"

  Ever wonder why you feel so good after working out? It’s not just your imagination at play – psychologists and exercise physiologists have found that exercise may actually work as well as drugs for treating depression. A Duke University study tested this theory by recruiting 156 men and women age 50 and older who suffered from major depression. They split the study participants into two groups. One group walked or jogged for 30 minutes three days a week, while another group simply took the antidepressant Zoloft.

 

At the end of four months, both groups improved dramatically. But the real surprise came when the researchers checked back in with the participants six months later. Thirty-eight percent of the Zoloft group had fallen back into depression, compared to only 8% of the exercise group. So I say, when you’re feeling blue, just throw on your walking shoes!

Over a year and half ago my son had a seizure in front of me which he almost died from. I gave him mouth to mouth to get him breathing after he stop breathing from the seizure. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital. He went into a coma for the next 24 hours. A week later the doctors still didn't know what caused this one time seizure, but they diagnosed with a active form of bipolar depression. Because of the brutal way my husband, my son's father was taken from us when my son was young. This tragic loss has cause major delayed reactions in him that are now surfacing because of this great loss to him and to us as a family. 

They immediately gave me a prescription for pills to give him twice daily. Not a believer in taking pills I was extremely torn. We decided to try it and I gave him the pills as prescribed twice daily. It only took two days till my son said he hated how they made him feel and made tired and he was too tired to workout. I had just started training him with weights now that he was 14 years old. Of course the doctor said it would take time to adjust the doze and asked me to up the doze to three times daily for the next few weeks. 

  I refused to follow the doctor's instructions. My son and I agreed that I would keep training him with weights and kicking his ass in the gym and that would be his form of medication. He began to focus on his goals for school and other dreams he has for himself. He was dedicated to training and working out every day. It made him feel alive and better than he had ever felt. Of course the doctor's felt the change in my son was due to the medication they prescribed for him. They had no idea that he had stopped taking the medication on the third day and we started our own form of medication. This medication is called training your ass off and feeding your body and soul with exercise rather than with pills to fix a problem.

It's been almost two years now and my son has not had any more seizures and he is more happy and full of energy and life. I do believe in my son's case that going the route we did was much better and healthier for him than stuffing him daily with pills that only made him feel lazy, sad and disconnected to life in general. I think there is a place for medication in certain circumstances. I do feel a quick fix is always used to any form of depression and most always a pill is prescribe to take. I can only go on my experience with my son and in his case exercise and having a daily workout schedule is what made him heal. His body and mind thrived over these few years and he's become motivated and has great drive daily and for his future. The alternative route we took has made him in to the healthy, fit happy young man he is today.

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