I'm on a roll tonight. Just remember, these are just my personal opinions and I don't mean to offend anybody. I've stated before I work in the pharmacy industry. I have patients of all kinds. People with Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, mental conditions such as Bi-Polar (which I have a strong opinion I may one day be diagnosed as this), Schizophrenia, and the ones that really affect me, AIDS and Cancer.
I blame part of the depression I was in, was that I thought the world was a better place, but after seeing the sides of life most human beings don't want others to see, I was slapped in the face. I saw human nature at it's finest. Greed, Ignorance, and lack of self-confidence. While I believe pharmaceuticals have their place, I also believe strongly in an active lifestyle. A lot of typical medical problems can be prevented but an active lifestyle and eating right. Exercise can also help with some mental health issues. I definitely believe in pharmaceutically treating mental illnes, I think that your common cases of Hypertention and Hypercholesterolemia can be reduces, if not virtually eliminated by an active lifestyle. Does active mean going to the gym and lifting weights all the time? No, it means doing an activity as simple as walking. If you want to go into more complex activities, the more power to you. Having high blood pressure and high cholesterol can cause cardiovascular diseases, and can eventually lead to the most feared thing in life: death.
Exercise can help with, even if not, eliminate depression. I know from experience. I originally started exercising regularly in the tail end of 2006 when I moved back to Arizona from Missouri after a not so nice blowout with my Dad and his wife. It was the gym at that time which kept me grounded. At the time I was fairly low in self esteem. I had no car, I worked a minimum waged job, and had numerous other factors that contributed to where I was. What kept me from going completely over the edge was going to the gym and at least trying to exercise. The gym I joined in Sierra Vista had no personal trainers to help introduce to routine workouts, they had personal trainers, but you would have to pay for their services and I didn't have that kind of money to hire one for one measily session to at least give me some pointers to help me get started. I did some weights, I did cardio, and I kept happy. I then moved to Tucson and fell out of that habit due to me not making the time to go to the gym. Then this summer after fighting my depression for 18 months with just a psychiatrist for therapy, I joined a gym, and slowly eased myself into a regular routine. And now 7 months later, I have never felt more confident in myself and more focused in my life.
Regular cardio workout increases circulation in your cardiovascular system, thus reducing the chances for blockage in your arteries. It gets your heart beating, and gets you thinking. Exercise inhibits increased uptake of norepenephrine, which is a hormone and neurotransmitter. It affects your mood. Increased norepenephrine uptake sounds like an anti-depressant doesn't it? Well it is, exercise can be an anti-depressant. Many anti-depressants increase norepenephrine uptake in your body, especially anti-depressants in the SSNRI class of medications. That class includes fancy brand name drugs such as Effexor XR, Cymbalta, Pristiq, and a handful of other drugs which names elude me at this moment. Those medications, without insurance, usually run $100+ for a 30 day supply of medications. Sure it's easy taking a pill, but that kind of money really hurts in the pocket books. I know I can never be depressed enough to spend that sort of money on a medication who's side effects can often include sexual dysfunction and increased risk of suicide. No thank you. I'd rather spend $29 a month for a gym membership, especially for a gym that is 24 hours. I can go anytime during the day. I work 40+ hours a week on a regular basis, so a 24 hour gym really works well for me. I can come and go as I please, plus I have a support net thanks to gym members with similiar goals, and a supporting gym staff. The only side effects from the gym I ever have are sore muscles, seeing more than I want to in the locker room, and the typical moron sitting in the machine I want to use talking on his cell phone, which can simply be solved by me standing right behind the machine and giving him dirty looks in the mirror.
The gym thing sounds so much better than a sugar pill to me at least. I know it's hard to find time, but now after I find out my work schedule, I then schedule my gym sessions, and then schedule the rest of the less important endeavours such as going out and drinking (which I'm guilty of, bad habit to get into) and wasting life away.
It kills me everytime somebody comes to the Pharmacy I work in and picks up a prescription for a hypertention treating medication or medication that treats high cholesterol and then goes off and buys junk like Lay's Potato chips or some high fat, high cholesterol food. Eating healthier for me has saved me a lot of money. Rather than buying a ton of junk food which seems to be more expensive than your healthier food, I tend to go for more healthier foods. Lately I've been on a high protein, low fat diet. I guess it's more for selfish motives than for health.
Many people attribute my workout routine to my amazing recovery from my head trauma. Which I believe is true. The worst injury I had was cognative impairment. I sometimes can't think of words really fast, but after coming out of my coma and realizing where I was, I only had speech issues. Physically I was a little slow (thanks to my head injury), but I could move without any issues. In the rehab hospital, there were several people with head injuries. My accident was probably the worst, but in physical therapy, my only issue was balance, nothing else. My issue with balance was more attributed to my head trauma than physical damage to my body.
It's because of my amazing recovery from such a horrific event that nearly claimed my life that has solidified my devotion to the gym now. Exercising keeps me out of trouble, it helps me feel better about myself, and obviously feeds my more selfish side as I also work to improve my physical appearance. Exercising also has helped with my head trauma recovery. Most of my "oh duh" moments where I go back to think about times where I was slow with understanding something or thinking of words, have happened while I was either on a treadmill, on a thighmaster, a pectoral fly machine, or lifting weights. Exercise increases dopamine in the brain, which dopamine affects your thought process. I've learned a lot thanks to my exercise routine. Half of this stuff, I've learned since my discharge from the hospital.
It's obvious the benefits of exercising and having an active lifestyle outweigh the "side effects" by a huge margin, a much larger margin than any benefits medications have in some areas. The only side effects I have ever experiened are the ones I said earlier in this blog post, plus the lazy people who love to leave dumbells on the floor in hopes of me tripping over them and falling and hitting my head again.
I haven't studied exercises effect on serotonin very well, so I will not go into that subject, but I am certain it's very positive. Like I said before, pharmaceuticals do have their place and exercise isn't a cure for everything, just like pharmceuticals aren't a cure for everything. But a balance of both I am certain can help everybody to have a happy, healthy life.
If you think I'm full of shit, here's a page that more or less says what I have said, plus a lot more:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neur...eb1/rroth.html
I guess what stirred up entire blog post was me thinking about a co-worker returning from Europe amazed at how much healthier and happier Europeans seem to be. I can vouch for that too, I have had my own experience in Europe and can vouch for him. I don't advise suddenly stopping your medications, but I would say, find some time to fit an active hobby into your lifestyle. Go for a walk, go play tennis, or the most extreme that nobody seems to want to do, get a gym membership and tap into all the benefits your local gym can offer.
