Is Exercise As Effective For Relieving Depression As Therapy and Medication?

Depression affects over 340 million people across the globe and here in the United States it is estimated that about 16% percent of the population will suffer from a major depressive disorder (MDD) during the course of their lives,  with women being almost twice as likely than their male counterparts to develop a disorder. ^1,2 With all the emphasis with regards to health care on obesity related illnesses it is often overlooked that depression is on track to become the second largest contributor to the global burden of disease by the year 2020.³ We know that physical inactivity increases the likelihood and duration of depression and that physical activity, whether it be work related, exercise or recreation significantly reduces the risk of developing a depressive disorder. This holds true across the board for people of all races and socio-ecomomic levels, but for those adverse to conventional therapeutic interventions, the question remains, can exercise be as effective as conventional therapy and medication in relieving depression?

Studies Find That Exercise Is A Strong Preventative Against Depression

In 2001 the British Medical Journal did a review of the antidepressant effects of exercise treatments. After looking at a total of fourteen randomized controlled trials they found that the positive effects of exercise treatment for depression when compared to no treatment at all was statistically significant. There were major reductions in depression ratings among those engaged in exercise programs as opposed to those who were inactive. There was some debate over the validity of this review as some of the participants in the studies may have had subclinical mood problems rather than fully diagnosed major depressive disorders. That being said the idea that exercise treatment is more effective than no treatment at all is supported by at least two other systematic reviews^{4, 5,6} and most of the systematic reviews find as well that ‘the antidepressant effect size of exercise can be comparable to that of psychotherapy and to that of pharmacotherapy.’ ^{7, 6, 8, 9}

The Anti-Depressant Effects Of Exercise May Be Comparable To Drug & Therapy Interventions

Does this mean that you should focus solely on exercise as a way to relieving depressive symptoms? Not at all, as there is a saying that in a battle one should always go down fighting with all swords drawn from their scabbards and the same applies to clinical depression. Given the effects of exercise on mood elevation, the combined use of therapy and drug interventions might result in faster onset of antidepressant action, so drug and therapy should not be instantly ruled out.10 More trials are needed before exercise can be recommended clinically as a prescription for dealing with depression, but if exercise could act as an immediate salve to the symptoms of depression given that antidepressant medications and therapy all take weeks to months before clinical improvements can be seen whereas the positive effects of exercise occur much faster. Most importantly, the use of exercise protocols are safe and do not interact negatively in any way with other drugs or therapeutic treatments.

Some experts argue that adherence to a standardized exercise program is the number one reason for failure among the general population and that it would be far more difficult for a severely depressed individual to find the motivation to exercise on a regular basis, but given the promising fairly recent results of brief high intensity weight training programs on relieving depressive symptoms¹¹ it might indeed be viable if the duration is considerably short especially as adherence to regularly taking anti-depressant drugs is equally a problem among individuals with depression. At the end of the day what these findings really highlight is that exercise and physical activity have a major role to play in our overall mental health and that more research should be done into its potential use as a clinical anti-depression prescription. In coming articles we will explore the relevance of short high intensity training on depression and how it might make getting the anti-depressive benefits of exercise far more attainable to those that find it hard to stick with an exercise program to being with.

References:

1.         Greden JF. The burden of recurrent depression: causes, consequences and future prospects
2.         Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demier O, et al. The epidemiology of major depressive disorder; results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication- JAMA 2003
3.         Lopez AD, Murray CC. The global burden of disease, 1990-2020. Nat Med 1988
4.         Craft LL, Landers DM. The effect of exercise on clinical depression and depression resulting from mental illness: a meta analysis. J Sport Exerc Psychol 1998.
5.         Stathopoulou G, Powers MB, Berry AC, et al. Exercise interventions for mental health; a quantitative and qualitative review. Clin Psychol Sci Pract 2006.
6.         North TC, McCullagh P, Tran ZV. Effect of exercise on depression. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 1990.
7.         Lawlor DA, Hopker SW. The effectiveness of exercise as an intervention in the management of depression; systematic review and meta-regression analysis of randomized controlled trials. Br Med J 2001.
8.        Martinsen EW. Physical activity and depression: clinical experience. ACTA Psychiatr Scand Suppl 1994.
9.         Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Moore KA, et al. Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Arch Intern Med 1999
10.      Marije R, Collins K, Fitterling H. Physical exercise and depression. Mount Sinai School Of Medicine NY
11.      Singh, N, Stavrinos, TM, Scarbek Y, et al. A randomized controlled trial of high versus low intensity weight training versus general practitioner care for clinical depression in older adults. Journal of Gerontology 2005

Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts™ and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.

Why don't more overweight people go to the gym to lose weight?

The Real Reasons Overweight People Don’t Join Gyms

According to the numbers from the Center of Disease Control, two thirds of Americans are overweight and even more fall into the category of being obese. We know conclusively that being over one’s ideal weight increases the risk of everything from heart disease to Type II diabetes, not to mention the potential mental anguish from a negative body image. We also know that exercise can be a major force in helping people get into better shape and to improving their health, so why don’t more people join gyms and start exercising? It sounds like a simple solution yet only a third of people who are overweight meet the National Institute of Health’s exercise recommendations. Given these facts one has to assume that there are other issues stopping more people from joining gyms that we are not bringing into focus.

Often I hear people who already have made exercise a part of their lives talk about how easy it is for America to reverse the obesity epidemic. In a very shallow and unsympathetic manner they will proclaim that people are just lazy and too set on sitting in front of a television with a remote control and a bag of chips to do anything about their weight problem. If you have a poor body image, all you need to do is to get off of your behind and hit the gym- that simple. I hear such ignorance so often that is sickens me and from people in the industry that should really know better. I don’t think that you need to have a degree in behavioral sciences to understand that simple black and white approaches to real human problems ignore the basic truth that our actions are based on emotions, not on logic. We are not machines and thus for there to be a real solution to a problem, it must come from an understanding of the emotions that those problems can bring about. Any other approach simply will not work and while the gym industry is indeed a multi-billion dollar enterprise, the overwhelming majority of Americans that really need their services do not have a membership. Let’s take a real hard look at why that is.

Fallacy: People Who Are Overweight Don’t Know That Exercise Is Important

Even if you live in a small cave, I am pretty sure that you, like the rest of the world are aware that exercise is not only important but that it can help you lose weight and live longer. It’s no secret and pouring more money solely into increased health and fitness education is not the answer. People who are overweight or obese actually are stronger believers in the importance of exercise than their regular weight counterparts. According to a survey of over 1,500 men and women done by researchers at the Washington Medical Center soon to be published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, people that have weight issues are well aware that exercise is a key factor in improving their body image and their overall health. With the constant cues from the media and their physicians this should not come as a surprise to anyone although recent studies have called into question the effectiveness of conventional exercise programs for weight loss, (and with good reason- See my post: Is Exercise Effective) it is still medically accepted that exercise does reduce the health risks associated with being overweight and improves self esteem.

Truth: People Who Are Overweight Don’t Join Gyms Because They Are Self Conscious

 
Stop and think for a minute, if you were overweight, obese, or simply didn’t feel that great about your body, how would you feel about going into a hip sports club advertised on television and flyers as being filled with fit and trim beautiful men and women? If you felt some degree of trepidation then you would begin to understand what so many really feel. The study found that most overweight men and women dislike the idea of sweating and exerting themselves in front of younger and more svelte gym-goers, and this was their primary reason for not joining a health club. This feeling of self consciousness is obviously even more prevalent in women than with men. Women are far more likely to feel pressured to wear trendy and sexy clothes while in the gym and to feel embarrassed about training in front of members of the opposite sex. They also are far less likely to try to use a complicated piece of machinery for fear of looking ridiculous if they use it incorrectly. These fears are very real and can do quite a lot to stop someone from making positive steps towards improving their health.

Truth: Lack of Motivation Isn’t Why Most People Don’t Exercise

So in the end laziness and lack of motivation really are not as much a part of the equation as some would think. Many people don’t join health clubs because they hate the idea of going into an environment where they would feel out of place, and understandably so. In the study only about 18 percent were members of a health club. That means that a full 82 percent were not going to a gym because of their negative feelings towards their perception of what a health club environment would be, and I can say with authority that you don’t necessarily have to be overweight or obese to be intimidated by going to a gym. Of all the clients that I have trained over the course of almost two decades, most of them who had never worked out in a gym before expressed some trepidation about going there for the first time. This negative feeling towards health clubs held true whether they saw themselves as being overweight or underweight and is one that I think most people can relate to feeling at some point, but what are some solutions?

One Solution: Independent Hardcore Gyms Over Health Club Chains

When started training some twenty-one years ago I was a scrawny teenager. At almost six feet and weighing 125lbs soaking wet, to say that I was self conscious about my appearance would be a serious understatement. At the time the idea of joining a gym filled me with a genuine sense of terror. I was so certain that I would be ridiculed that I started lifting weights in earnest at home in order to get into decent enough shape to be able to go to the gym!
It took two months before I mustered the courage to join a hardcore gym not too far away from where I lived and it was one of the best decisions of my life. Everyone there was so focused on their training that no one even noticed that I was there. There was also a real sense of community and the regulars took it upon themselves to take me under their wings and teach me the ropes. The rest you could say is history and I owe my successful career as a natural bodybuilder and personal trainer to the support I got in the gym during those early years.

Many tell similar stories at neighborhood independent gyms across the country. You would think that in such hardcore places would be the last place where someone who was overweight would not fit in, but nothing could be further from the truth. In a spandex free environment where everyone is focused on achieving their goals you don’t feel like you have to be part of a scene the way you would at some of the commercial health club chains. To this day I have never had a membership at a commercial health club chain and I have always based my personal training service out of more hardcore independent gyms. With the high intensity training that I do an environment where everyone else is serious as well is extremely important and my clients have always done exceptionally well in these settings and felt more comfortable regardless of how they look. Commercial gyms have a lot that needs to change if they wish to reach out to the majority of the population, and from a business world perspective it would also make them more profitable (although to be honest people waste millions of dollars every year on gym memberships that they never really use, but that’s material for another article.)

Other Solutions: Less Judgement More Action

 Society as a whole has to stop equating people’s character with their weight or activity levels- it isn’t always as simple as joining a gym and people in the industry also have to be more understanding just how difficult it can be to join a gym. Hiring a personal trainer can be a great way to be introduced to the gym environment without feeling like you are going in all by yourself. True the prospect of working with someone that looks just like the people that you might find intimidating at the gym can be a daunting one, but there are a lot of trainers out there like myself who do understand the issues, and as a rule hiring an out of shape trainer is seldom ever a good idea.

Some in the industry think that by lowering the bar it will help more people feel comfortable about working with a trainer, but all it does in the end is make it less likely for the client to be successful. If you are drowning you wouldn’t turn to someone that was having difficulty in the water as well for help, you would look to a strong swimmer and the same applies to personal training. Every trainer is different, though and you may have to shop around to find one that is both understanding and knowledgeable.

Another great idea is starting with a partner or a group of people you know that are already working out. In any case starting an exercise program can be as exhilarating as it is frightening, so the next time you see someone starting out in your gym, take the headphones off for a second and make them feel welcome, it does make a difference.

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His high intensity 10 minute workouts have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Guilt over eating the wrong foods only makes you more likely to keep eating them!

Is It Beneficial To Beat Yourself Up After Eating Junk Foods?

Guilt \ˈgilt\: noun
1 : the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty; broadly : guilty conduct
2 a : the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously b : feelings of culpability especially for imagined offenses, sin or from a sense of inadequacy : self-reproach
3 : a feeling of culpability for offenses

Guilt. In many ways food has become the new sin the Western world, one that justifies self torment and lowers self esteem everyday. You have that extra slice of chocolate cake, the glass of wine at the company party or the applepie at the family holiday dinner and in the moment there is no mistake that you do enjoy it. Sometimes rich and fatty foods can be almost sinful for lack of a better word, but you feel absolutelyterrible afterwards, and you really wish that you had not eaten the foods that you had. The guilt for some can be overwhelming, but the question remains, are these feelings of guilt really helpful? The answer is a resounding no! In fact what we know of human behavious is that the more you beat yourself up about eating something that you feel that you shouldn’t have the more likely you are to keep eating it! Interesting cycle, and one that has helped most of us stay locked in a constant and unsuccessful struggle to improve our eating habits.

Understanding Our Patterns Of Food Consumption

The first step to understanding the harm that guilt inflicts upon us when we associate it with food is to understand our patterns with regard to food consumption. Know thy enemy and know thyself and in a thousand battles you will never be in peril. These words written by a Chinese sage thousands of years ago apply just as much to war as it does to behavior modification as it is only through an intimate understanding of ourselves that change can be effected. Most simply make the resolution one day that they will no longer eat unhealthy foods and as valiant as this may be it is almost always unsuccessful. If it were that easy then weight management would not even be an issue and as most can attest this simply isn’t the case.

It Is A Mistake To Believe That Our Slips Are Caused By Lack of Willpower

To change the way we eat requires something far more than a resolution or diet, there must instead be an unrelenting commitment to a very real change in lifestyle. For this to happen we have to divorce ourselves from the destructive perspective that somehow there must be some form of atonement for any failures that occur while we are on the path of change . It is human nature to believe that when a ‘wrong’ is committed, that some form of guilt is required, usually  followed by some form of penance as well. The problem is that when the ‘wrongdoing’ comes from eating something that we believe we shouldn’t nothing positive comes from it and it can be the starting point for lifelong eating disorders as one of our most basic acts as human beings is defiled by what we perceive as a lack of willpower.

Over the course of my career as a personal trainer I have seen so many men and women suffer tremendously from this way of thinking and the sad part is that society itself plays a large part in reinforcing feelings of guilt and failure in those that are struggling to control their weight. When people stray from their perceived perfect eating plan by eating something that falls into the category of forbidden, they tend to fall into a downward spiral of self hatred and disgust. This self inflicted form of  flagellation is followed by a resolve to either exercise more, diet harder or employ some extreme method to compensate for the ‘damage’ done by their indulgence. Sadly this is an all too familiar refrain for most people today.

 
Guilt Has No Place In A Healthy Mind and a Healthy Body

 
Physiologically speaking, there isn’t anything that can be done to compensate for a slip in one’s diet. Nothing at all. What is done is done and any attempts to try to undo the past are wasted exercises in magical thinking.  You eat something and there is nothing that you can do to reverse the fact- the universe does not have a rewind button and so we must simply move on. By wallowing in guilt we only bring ourselves closer to the likelihood of developing an eating disorders or at the very least lose some of our self respect. None of this has anything to do with the intended goal of living better and healthier lives in healthier bodies. Instead the slips must be looked upon as what they are; learning experiences that teach us more about ourselves since every slip holds the information necessary to help avoid their continued reoccurrence. With this attitude in mind, guilt no longer has a place in our relationship with food.

Guilt Makes You More Likely To Keep Eating The Wrong Foods 

If you decide that you are no longer going to eat unhealthy foods, your new attitude only serves to supplement your original behavior where eating unhealthy foods were acceptable. Behavioral psychology reinforces what  many of us have learned through objective observations;. namely that the very habits that we seek to change resurface because they are not fully forgotten. New and old ways of thinking co-exist as opposing impulses that will always be in competition unless steps are taken to disarm undesirable attitudes. Simply put, the more you beat yourself over the head about eating that piece of cheesecake, the more you help yourself recall the image of you eating it and the harder you are making it for yourself to forget about eating cheesecake.

What needs to happen is a gradual shift in eating patterns over time where new foods replace old foods. In time the new foods stay at our primary level of consciousness and the desire for the old ones simply fades away. This leads to a true definition of health; one where we want the foods that are good for us as opposed to avoiding bad foods because we know they are bad for us. Disarming those attitudes requires a fundamental change in perspective, a change that comes only with time and patience. It is only when you are able to enjoy foods that are good for you that you will be able to break the cycle. In the meantime, do your best not to eat the wrong foods, but if you do just keep going and don’t look back! Have a wonderful and guilt free holiday season!

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His high intensity 10 minute workouts have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Do Muscles Really Make Men More Attractive To Women?

Do muscles really make you more attractive?

From movies to advertisements in today’s modern media, the ideal man is almost always well built. Stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone still stand out decades after the zenith of their movie careers as the epitome of masculinity, prompting millions of men to start lifting weights and in many instances drive them to extremes such as using anabolic steroids to achieve their goals. Media hype aside however, is there any real proof that having a well muscled physique makes you more attractive to the opposite sex? Interestingly enough, there actually are scientific studies out there that answer that question, though the answers might surprise you.

Our Built In Body Image Bias

As early as when they are in kindergarten, children appear to prefer males with more muscular builds over those that are naturally on the heavier side (endomorphs) or those with inherently lean and thin physiques (ectomorphs).1 Young children in general have a slight aversion towards a people that are heavyset (sorry, Santa Claus) and in one study children aged  10 to 11 years old related muscular mesomorphs as “all things good”, while attributing less favorable descriptions to ectomorphs and endomorphic body types.

Prejudices Against The Obese

Fatter children generally have a negative perception of themselves , which can lead to  a generalized negative self image.2 Negative reactions to overweight individuals are an undeniable fact of modern Western life. People that are obese are often discriminated against in obtaining life insurance, getting jobs, and gaining entrance to college education.3. As much as we might try to ignore it, such discrimination, while not coming from a place of malice or predjudice, still does create serious and almost insitutionalized problems for many. A study of 10,000 people aged 16 to 24 that spanned a seven year period found that being obese meant you were less likely to marry, more likely to have a lower income, and more likely to receive less schooling as well.4 People in this society also perceive the inability to lose weight as a character flaw, which is ironic  given that obesity is a rapidly spreading epidemic that affects almost percent of the population and that 63% of the American population is overweight and almost one third of them can be categorized as being obese.5

The Muscle Man As An Ideal Mate

Well it depends on who you are asking. Researchers found that women who saw themselves as conservative and feminine tended to favor ‘muscle men’ while more ‘liberated’ women leaned more towards thinner and more linear bodies. What was also observed was that  big women preferred big men. As interesting as these findings might be in terms of women’s ideal mate choice all these factors fall aside when researchers observed their actual choice of mate. Overwhelmingly bodies of research have shown that the best clue to a women’s favorite male physique is the type of physique belonging to the man who is ‘the most important to her at that time in her life.’6  The fact that women prefer the physique of the man that is currently important to them suggests that partners are selected for many reasons besides physical attractiveness, and that people can favor an ideal body type but still not be happy with someone that fits that ideal.

Now there are groups of women that find muscular men incredibly attractive and some go so far as to only date men that are well muscled, however they are small in number relative to the size of the female human population. I myself started out at 125 lbs and did indeed see a tremendous difference in the way I was treated by the opposite sex as I slowly transformed into a 225 lb natural bodybuilder. It was truly an interesting experience to say the least, and I do think muscles do give you the potential of a good first impression- but after that it character, personality and a host of other factors will determine one’s eligibility. It might sound strange coming from me, but I do think that men, just like their female counterparts should focus more on being themselves rather than living up to media driven ideals. The desire for a well developed body should spring from a genuine wish for self improvement and overall health, and certainly not only as a way to pick up  women. Besides, as the studies show, muscles aren’t always everything. 

References

1. Johnson & Staffieri, 1971; Learner & Gellert, 1969, Learner & Korn, 1972; Learner & Schroder1971; Staffieri, 1972.
2. Portnoy, 1993
3. Channing and Mayer, 1966
4. Gortmaker et al., 1993
5. The National Center for Health statistics
6. Beck, Ward-Hull, &McLear, 1976; Lavrakas, 1975; Pertschulk, Trisdorfer, & Allison, 1994; Wiggins & Wiggins, 1969.

Kevin Richardson is one of NYC’s most sought after personal fitness trainers, a lifetime bodybuilding champion, renowned health and fitness writer as well as the founder of the Naturallly Intense System of Diet  & Exercise. Learn more about Kevin’s unique and holistic system of body transformation at www.naturalllyintense.net

The worst thing to say is that I want to look like this person or that person. In doing so you limit yourself to being only as excellent as they may be and in so doing prevent yourself from realizing a higher level of accomplishment that you never knew possible. One that far surpasses that of whom you admire. Let others be guides, not goals.

Warmest regards,

Kevin Richardson

Founder, Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™

Naturally Intense Personal Training NYC

www.naturallyintense.net