Written by Mira Piirainen
It is said that exercise relieves depression even faster than antidepressants. Exercise is even recommended these days as a treatment for depression. What are the benefits of exercise for mental health, and is exercising a threat or an opportunity for someone with depression?
Mira Piirainen is a 42-year-old EasyFit entrepreneur, personal trainer, and group exercise instructor. Before entering the fitness industry, Mira held management positions in the retail sector, but fortunately, the fitness industry won her over. The author of this blog has been living with depression since 1999.
Working Out When You're Depressed: A Threat or an Opportunity?
For someone who is depressed, simply going to the gym can trigger feelings of anxiety. The number of people who might be at the gym, the upcoming workout, how well one will do, how poorly one will do, and so on—all of these things cause anxiety, feelings of a panic attack, a fear of escape, and crying spells. It’s hard to believe just how difficult it is to take your gym bag out of the closet and walk to the gym.
If, for example, you’re thinking about taking a long break from the gym and how hard it will be afterward to take that first step back toward the gym—it’s nothing compared to what a depressed and anxious mind goes through in those moments when it’s time to leave.
My recommendation is to make it a routine. Tell your body that everything is okay, that you’re not going to hurt it. You could even put on some music at this point—something that calms you down. Remember to breathe. You can do it.
Positive Stress vs. Negative Stress
From experience, I can say that, in this case as well, too much exercise is always too much. In other words, a moderate amount of exercise is good for a depressed mind. Exercise should be kept light enough, and muscles should not be worked to the point of exhaustion. As soon as you feel fatigue or a burning sensation in your muscles, you should stop the exercise—or, better yet, stop even before that.
However, a competitive person’s workout can easily become too intense. You grit your teeth, wanting to improve your results, and end up pushing yourself way too hard. Why? — Because it feels so good in the moment, and it feels like all the world’s troubles will vanish from my mind if I just do one more rep.
The workout itself isn't the problem—it's the recovery. Depression can cause so much negative stress in the body that positive stress (from exercise) begins to take a negative toll on the body because it can't recover.
Remember to recover
Sleep and nutrition are essential for recovery. However, people with depression often also have trouble sleeping. If you train hard and sleep poorly, your recovery will be disrupted. You may not be able to do anything about your sleep problems, but you can take care of your nutrition—so make sure you eat well and eat high-quality food—always. Don’t just eat whatever’s convenient or, in the worst case, skip meals altogether. Make your meals the highlights of your day. Cook good food. And remember to eat. Make sure you eat after your workout so your body can recover. Make sure you eat before your workout so your body has enough energy to train.
Take Advantage of Programming
Get moving. Get moving and exercise. That’s because exercise releases endorphins in the brain (these are compounds that act like morphine, meaning they produce a powerful sense of well-being—or euphoria). But don’t overdo it. During the worst bouts of depression, do exercises that give you a sense of accomplishment and that you’re good at.
Plan your workouts in advance or have a professional design them for you, so you don’t push yourself too hard when you’re feeling low. Keep in mind that it’s perfectly normal for someone who’s depressed to be unable to make decisions about set weights, rep counts, and so on during a workout. That’s why planning is even more important than usual. When planning, keep the bar low so you can feel a sense of accomplishment from your workouts and avoid turning positive stress into negative stress. Don’t berate yourself, and don’t push yourself too hard. Don’t push yourself to the point of exhaustion.
What's it like to work out when you're dealing with depression?
Don’t just wait for depression to go away, because in some cases it’s always there—just like it is for me. That’s why it’s important to learn to listen to yourself and live in the here and now. Take care of yourself, exercise in moderation, and make sure you get enough rest. And remind yourself—if no one else does—that you’re amazing! And you’ll get through this, too!
With my busy life as an entrepreneur and the depression I’ve been dealing with, I’ve learned to schedule my workouts. Otherwise, I either end up overdoing it, can’t find any time for workouts at all, or simply can’t make up my mind about whether “I should work out today or not.” When my gym workouts are scheduled and wisely squeezed in between other activities, I’m also able to make time for recovery.
Physical activity is an integral part of my job—I lead group exercise classes even when I’m going through a depressive episode. Of course, during really difficult times, when I can’t even get out of bed, I’ve had to cancel classes, but that rarely happens. I feel like I get energy from my wonderful clients. There might be a brief moment at the start of the class when I’m struggling with myself and my depression, but as the music carries me away, I’m able to let go of my anxiety, and by the end of the class, I’m all smiles.
Since the workload is intense due to my coaching responsibilities, I’ve learned to prioritize my recovery and listen to my body. So I don’t always go to the gym; instead, I take it easy for a few weeks or even longer when my depression is at its worst. During these times, I spend more time in nature than usual. I find that being out in the woods and nature helps me recharge, and I often spend the night in a tent, a wilderness hut, or a lean-to. This is my way of getting through difficult times. You have to listen to your body, find forms of exercise that release feel-good hormones and that help you recharge. For some people, of course, that might even mean working out at the gym, but in that case, you need to scale back rather than put additional stress on your body with intense workouts.
After bouts of depression, I either really miss working out at the gym or I don’t miss it at all. This, too, varies from time to time. If the thought of going to the gym makes me anxious, I just decide in advance when I’ll go for my first workout and mark the date on my calendar. It helps a lot if I can get a friend to join me for these sessions, since I’m definitely a “workout buddy” kind of person. But if I can’t find a friend at the last minute, you’ll find me working out with music in my ears, doing the exercises I like best. So I start with the exercises that are the most meaningful to me and where I feel like I’m succeeding. Little by little from here on out, I’ll kick off my own gym routine, and in a few weeks we’ll be back in full swing.
It’s really challenging when there are breaks in my training. Of course, those breaks can happen due to other people getting sick and so on, but I’ve learned to accept that. The most important thing is my own well-being, not so much how much I can lift off the ground.
The decision to speak publicly about my own depression wasn’t an easy one. I weighed the matter carefully and imagined worst-case scenarios about how people might react in the worst-case scenario. However, deep down, I’m the kind of person who always puts myself out there, and I’m truly happy that I did so this time as well and spoke publicly about my depression.
I’ve received nothing but positive feedback on this. I’ve been approached by people who are going through similar experiences, and many wonderful people have joined my coaching program—people who might have been afraid to approach someone with such a strong personality in the past. I feel that by sharing who I am, I’ve automatically created an atmosphere of honesty between my coachees and myself. It’s truly wonderful and liberating to be my authentic self—flaws and all.
I’ve had the privilege of experiencing many wonderful encounters with clients, and many of them have left a deep impression on me. I wanted to share two of them that show just how wonderful and kind-hearted people can be—and how many broken people there are here whose stories we don’t know.
The first moment I want to share took place this past Christmas, 2022, when one of the wonderful participants in my group exercise classes gave me a Christmas gift, hugged me, and said, “Thank you, Mira, for being here for us even when you don’t always feel like it.” This brought tears to my eyes.
The second story dates back a little over a year. I received a letter from a client, and I’d like to share a short excerpt from it here: “Dear Mira, I want to tell you how happy I am that I had the courage to reach out to you and start your coaching program. Life has a lot of good and beautiful things, but also some painful ones. With the help of your coaching, I’ve gained the strength to face everyday life and, at least for a moment, take my mind off the painful things. So remember that you’re doing important and amazing work, and you’re an incredibly wonderful person.”
Finally, there was such a beautiful poem by Susanna Jussila that I could barely finish reading it because I simply couldn't see the text through my tears:
“Never apologize for the fact that your body feels the swell of even the most distant seas. For the fact that you cannot help but see things that many others choose to ignore. That your hair is sometimes tangled with a pale pink cloud of dust. That you prefer to follow the rhythms of nature rather than those of people. That your light makes some flee and others seek you out. Never apologize for walking with an open heart and refusing to hide your wounds.”