Exercising a Broken Heart
Posted by : CP
When my long-term girlfriend and I broke up I thought the pain would never go away; it sat in the pit of my stomach, kept me up at night, killed my appetite and crushed my motivation to go to the gym.
I was paralyzed by depression and anxiety, literally just going through the motions. I spent a lot of time eating crap, drinking, and not putting any real effort into life. It felt easier to sink deeper into my depression rather than try to move on with my life.
On my way to the gym one morning, something snapped inside of me. I don’t know what it was, but I decided I was going to play my music so loud that I couldn’t hear my depressive thoughts and I was going to work myself so hard that the only worry I would have is where my next breath was coming from. I think I almost died that day.
But I felt AMAZING afterward! Ahh!!! I seriously felt like I could leap tall buildings and shoot laser beams out of my eyes. Indestructible!
Exercise releases endorphins and serotonin which have been shown to lift mood. These natural pain killers are what antidepressant medications try to mimic when you have the blues.
17% of adults experience a major depressive episode in their lives.
A Duke University study compared the antidepressant effects of aerobic exercise to that of a popular antidepressant medication, as well as a placebo. The participants who exercised (moderate intensity for 40 minutes – 3 to 5 days each week) experienced the biggest improvement in their depression.
I am by no means suggesting that exercise can replace psychotherapy or medication for major depression or anxiety. What I am saying is that exercise can help dull the suffering from the shitty things that we go through.
No matter how you feel before or during a workout, the feeling after exercise is wonderful. Although recovering from a broken heart may seem to take forever, the boost in mood you will get from exercise comes immediately after a workout.
The best part is you don’t have to kill yourself in the gym to get the good mood feeling. A study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research showed that high intensities of exercise are not required to benefit from the antidepressant effects.
Let’s be honest, life sucks sometimes, and it’s easy to concede to anxiety and sadness. But before you sink deeper, try to get up and do something.
Move on – literally.
