Cycling the best cure for depression.

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Cycling the best cure for depression.

35 posts & 28 voices | Started 9 months ago by catflees | Latest reply from racefaceec90

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catflees - Member

I'm not depressed like I have been. Circumstances this last few weeks have been difficult. Lots of things normally you deal with over the course of a year or so (if at all) all seem to have come at once.

As usual i went cycling, today around the nature park by my house, down a canal route and back via some country lanes. Exercise really does clear your head and make you feel better. This thread is for those people who have posted recently about feeling down for various reasons. Please go and enjoy your bike (even my current made up of what's lying around spec Cannondale is fun) exercise does work wonders. Keep well people.

Posted 9 months ago #
derek_starship - Member

I've been cycling quite a lot since May 2010 and have lost almost 50lbs in weight. This has made me feel ace. I'm still a bit of an anxious type but I feel loads better for MTBing and commuting.

It's definitely a seretonin booster!

Posted 9 months ago #
camo16 - Member

Amen, brother.

Same goes for me. Delamere trails over the weekend with the 16 family in tow.

Wondrousness has never felt so wondrous...

Posted 9 months ago #
buzz-lightyear - Member

I'm not sure it's the best cure, or even a cure. But it helps a lot.

"Please go and enjoy your bike"

I second that!

Posted 9 months ago #
Mulletus Maximus - Member

Same as buzz. You still need to find the route cause for the depression. Once that has been found then it's a great way to help recovery.

As an example, I've been a little slack with taking my AD's lately and have felt pretty shit but yesterday I forced myself out to do a threshold training run. Two hours of hard exercise certainly made me feel better after.

Posted 9 months ago #
BigButSlimmerBloke - Member

Whatever is getting you down, frame of mind is one of the most important things in dealing with it. I've tried alcohol, it's crap, you end up hung over and even less able to deal with things. Cycling is great, your outside, you tune into what's around, you feel physically and mentally refreshed.
Maybe not the cure but helps. A lot.
Thing is you do sound such a div when you try suggesting it to someone who's going through a bad time

Posted 9 months ago #
catflees - Member

He he yeah I was a bit foolish when I suggested it as a 'cure'. Point taken. I'm a firm believer in AD's, they helped me. Exercise is a huge help alongside other therapies, going down a hill on a bike is a simple and never gets boring.

Posted 9 months ago #
Three_Fish - Member

The only cure for depression is to find the things that depress you and deal with them. Your ego is the first thing to identify as it wants you to be depressed.

Posted 9 months ago #
camo16 - Member

@Three_Fish

Why would your ego want you to be depressed?

Posted 9 months ago #
nonk - Member

yeah go on threefish whats your crack with that then?

Posted 9 months ago #
camo16 - Member

I wonder if Three_Fish is citing the Buddhist concept that egotism is the primary obstacle to happiness... or is it something else that I've never heard about?

Posted 9 months ago #
Pik n Mix - Member

edited as it wasn't in the upbeat mood of the thread

glad your ride made you :)op

Posted 9 months ago #
Taff - Member

Doesn't work as a cure for me but helps me take a weight off my mind. Work can be a major pain in the arse at times so an hour or so on a bike helps.

Posted 9 months ago #
16stonepig - Member

Why would your ego want you to be depressed?

Cos your ego's a ****

Well, mine is anyway

I second (third?) all that's been said above. I don't believe there is a "cure" for depression, however, I only think there's effective management of it. The beauty being that the management is actually defined by your behaviour, so find the right behaviour and environment and habits, and the depression becomes less intrusive.

Now, if one of the most important bits of behaviour is getting out and riding your bike, then everyone wins

(Please excuse the cheery nature of this post. I have had a seriously bad couple of weeks and appear to be on yet another upswing. It's constant change in the pig household!)

Posted 9 months ago #
Klunk - Member

what a load of ol' bollox. Back from a ride more depressed now than when I left.

Posted 9 months ago #
40mpg - Member

Just read an interesting if rather brief article on the benefits of mountain biking for depression here:

MTB South magazine (from page 20)

The writer refers to The Mental Health Foundations 10 steps to better mental health, which may be worth checking out.

Anyway, it inspired me so I thought I would share

Posted 9 months ago #
buzz-lightyear - Member

I've done a bit of CBT, not therapy as such, but a series of workshops to give a basic understanding to mildly depressed people, to help them help themselves.

I met a lot of interesting people at the workshops, mostly women of different ages. A common theme is they have lost their way in terms of personal ambitions, hobbies and social groups. The reasons are varied: personal disability, caring for very sick parents, kids left home, followed husband's job, demanding own job, separation from close family etc. Women have a very hard time IMO.

One of the key ideas is that there is a bi-directional dependency between mood and activity. Activity-level affects mood and vice-versa. So a strategy is to take a more disciplined approach to activity, especially those that satisfy one's own needs. It tries to re-build and ring-fence these activities, the loss of which caused the subject to feel depressed.

For me, mountain biking is a ring-fenced activity.

Posted 9 months ago #
Ecky-Thump - Member

I don't know about cycling being the "cure" but I don't mind admitting that NOT cycling is often the "cause" of something akin to depression for me.

Posted 9 months ago #
madhouse - Member

I'd say that in general doing anything you enjoy will have the same effect, we all love cycling so going for a blast round the local trails will always cheers us up - same goes for surfing, parachuting etc.

You get an added boost from action sports due to adrenaline along with all the usual other happy hormones, what are of course all intensified by going to the pub with you mates for a post-ride pint too

Posted 9 months ago #
cupra - Member

i wouldn't say I'm depressed but I find cycling helps a lot mentally. It gives me time to think and re-evaluate things and maybe get a different perspective. That said when you get to the half way point you know you are heading back to the same situations, oh to keep on cycling!

Posted 9 months ago #
Frankenstein - Member

Get out there = walk, run or cycle it all helps.

Recognise your signs or print it out.

Wall planner of activities.

Do something social and keep busy.

SADD is looming so do something now you can carry on with in winter weather.

Stay positive

Posted 9 months ago #
Ho hum - Member

buzz-lightyear - Member
I've done a bit of CBT, not therapy as such, but a series of workshops to give a basic understanding to mildly depressed people, to help them help themselves.

I met a lot of interesting people at the workshops, mostly women of different ages. A common theme is they have lost their way in terms of personal ambitions, hobbies and social groups. The reasons are varied: personal disability, caring for very sick parents, kids left home, followed husband's job, demanding own job, separation from close family etc. Women have a very hard time IMO.

One of the key ideas is that there is a bi-directional dependency between mood and activity. Activity-level affects mood and vice-versa. So a strategy is to take a more disciplined approach to activity, especially those that satisfy one's own needs. It tries to re-build and ring-fence these activities, the loss of which caused the subject to feel depressed.

For me, mountain biking is a ring-fenced activity.

Very interesting.

I went to see my GP back in May because I thought that I was slipping back into depression, but he said a similar thing and linked it into me not having very much in the way of activity (this included my job) that challenged me and from which I derived a sense of accomplishment.

He then went on to say that unless I changed my ways I was at risk of becoming a recluse.

Maybe I should also think of my time on my mountain bike as a ring-fenced activity as it is at least one non-family related thing that gives me a sense of accomplishment and direction

Posted 9 months ago #
aracer - Member

Do something social and keep busy.

Easier said than done

Posted 9 months ago #
wonny j - Member

Worked for Graham Obree

Posted 9 months ago #
Caher - Member

Cycle home daily after quite a stressy day - by the time i get home i cannot remember whether i have a job or not until the next day.

Posted 9 months ago #
nickname - Member

It helps with any low periods, but at the same time it makes me depressed that I can't ride my bike hard like I used to, my injuries just keep coming back

Posted 9 months ago #
racefaceec90 - Member

i'm sorry to hear that you suffer with the dreaded d as well catflees.it is a b'stard illness i really don't ride my bike anywhere near as much as i like because of it (and laziness although today i had a nice ride on the k & a canal.went to bike shop to order some components for my bike/then went to game shop and bought the new deus ex game along with mirror's edge (which i love).am glad that you had a good ride on your bike though.it's really annoying that once i actually make the effort to go for a ride i always really am glad i did (even if it rains).i wish you and everyone who suffers with it my best wishes in beating it (yes we can hey didn't someone say that once EDIT just wanted to add that i am filling my face with a bag of jelly beans that i bought so am getting a good sugar rush mmm jelly beans!

Posted 9 months ago #
MrGrim - Member

have lost almost 50lbs in weight.

Holy sh*t. Good for you!

Posted 9 months ago #
catflees - Member

Raceface how is Deus Ex?

I started writing this thread listing the reasons why I am depressed and feeling down, seeing it written down I was able to see lots of negative things have happend at once. I deleted it as It wasn't the nature of the thread I wanted.

Thanks to the links above, Intresting reading. Keep well everyone

Posted 9 months ago #
aracer - Member

at the same time it makes me depressed that I can't ride my bike hard like I used to

i really don't ride my bike anywhere near as much as i like because of it ...it's really annoying that once i actually make the effort to go for a ride i always really am glad i did

Well it's nice to know I'm not that unusual - was wondering given all the comments above. The thing is riding a bike has almost always been "training", and it's difficult when I'm not as good as I was. Right now I have lots of time to be out doing lots of riding (paddling, running etc.), but I'm not

(apologies for adding a negative vibe to the thread)

Posted 9 months ago #
martinxyz - Member

cupra - Member
i wouldn't say I'm depressed but I find cycling helps a lot mentally. It gives me time to think and re-evaluate things and maybe get a different perspective. That said when you get to the half way point you know you are heading back to the same situations, oh to keep on cycling!

POSTED 9 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Thats what marc beaumont thought at the half way point of his round the world trip!

Posted 9 months ago #
samuri - Member

Thankfully, it all seems to have tapered considerably but when I was mr bipolar, cycling was the only thing that could help turn the downs around.

It's so rare now that I'd not consider it bipolarity but when I take a plunge, I know I just need to get out on the bike to sort things out. It's very hard on those days, but I can feel things pick up within a few miles.

Even the migraines can be hlped by just getting on a bike and pottering around.

Posted 9 months ago #
pault41 - Member

Working nights i find that cycling helps me keep an even keel ,do an hour some mornings before going to bed.
Get a dose of sunshine too ,vit D top up.

Posted 9 months ago #
pitduck - Member

I like my bike

Posted 9 months ago #
racefaceec90 - Member

ah from what i have played of deus ex so far (not much yet) it does look fantastic/play very slick.when i saw the trailer footage for the game i was worried about it being "very" orange.but it isn't as bad as i was expecting (it does look very original).was chuffed to get the ltd edition version from gamestation (which came with a great comic also).would definitely recommend the game to anyone who liked the previous deus ex games (really want to play the first one) or stealth/sci fi games in general.right i'll shut up now

Posted 9 months ago #