Who else lifts for the mental health benefits? I honestly don't care about the gains (though they are nice)...

Who else lifts for the mental health benefits? I honestly don't care about the gains (though they are nice). I suffer from GAD and lifting has come close to curing it. I'll probably get totally ripped at some point but nobody will know I'm just lifting to avoid panic attacks.

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ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3551736/
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I lift for my mental health, too. 4 years ago I was suicidal. Now I bust my ass powerlifting to keep the demons at bay. Notbad.jpeg

What is GAD? Gay Asshole Dumbass?

Good post, but no, you're probably self-diagnosing. It's generalized anxiety disorder. Symptoms range from emergency/debilitating/annoyance/non-existent at times. Even typing this post and thinking about past panic attacks is nearly enough to set it off. Lifting has greatly helped although not fully cured it.

Sounds like a snowflake condition.

It was caused at the age of 34 by a brain infection while on vacation in China. I just turned 35. Never had a panic attack in my life before then. I assure you it's not a snowflake condition in my case, it's straight up brain damage.

It is a great way to kick off the positive feedback loop. People are more receptive to attractive people, cardio can get you high, vanity can get you slutpuss, intimidation factor, etc. The world becomes better when the world treats you better.

I personally like the clarity of moving a heavy weight with my body. Also the animal sex one becomes capable of truly changes lives.

That too, although it hasn't kicked in yet for me, only I can see the differences. I'm noticing enhanced mental clarity and calmness (a return to my former self before GAD). Something about exercise is triggering my brain to balance/repair itself.

Well that is more serious than a psychological disorder user. Thats brain damage.

I don't know about that. At least brain damage means my brain was pushed out of balance and it's probably trying to get back into balance (the body is good at that). Many psychological disorders are caused by genetic factors and there's less help for that.

That said, do I agree that lots of people with GAD are just snowflakes? Yes. Many are just lazy or want to be seen as special and do nothing to help their condition, that's how I know they're fake as hell. They annoy me because they make my condition look fake, with their tumblr trigger-warning bullshit, etc. I want nothing more than my old self back.

Exercise actually does improve brain function apparently. Idk in what way or to what extent, just one of those bathroom facts I've absorbed, but might be worth looking up.

So much this, although to be fair, being successful does not make you immune to psychological disorders. But it's probably better than any pills on the market.

Godspeed user, glad to hear it worked for you. How long before its effects fully kicked in? Did you ever take a break from lifting and if so, what happened?

is this what teenage edge looks like?

This is a violation of Global Rule 2.

Meant for this -

I lift to lift. But I go for a walk daily outside,usually at the park, and I think of that as being more for my mental health.

Also make a point of eye contact and saying 'hi' to people I walk by, which is pretty unusual where I live (NYC). And my social skills suck. But it's kinda cool. About half the people say 'hi' back.

So far only two people in the thread admitting to it. Surely it's more widespread. Or are most mentally ill people too ignorant to know exercise is a great option?

I'm mostly curious to see what results others have seen.

>brain damage causes disorders
You might be on to something

Well he wasn't wrong, it's more the difference between traumatic injury (infection, concussion, seizure), genetic illness (alzheimer's), or having a shitty lifestyle (likely full of drugs/alcohol) constantly until your brain is wack.

I have sympathy for those who suffered an injury or rolled bad genetics or got old, but very little sympathy for lazy degenerates.

The health of your body is always intertwined with your mind. I don't care that much about the gains either, but I care about health in general. Not getting fatigued by doing shit in your life. Not just crashing on the couch every evening. Getting great sleep because of exercise. Not getting frail in the aging process. Not dying at 45 because of some heart issues or getting alzheimers. Having a healthy dose of testosterone in your body.

I'm basically doing circuit training to keep up my heart rate to a certain degree, because mentally I feel so much better, when I do it like that.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3551736/

Lifting to combat my major depression and anxiety. It's a godsend, when you're trying to move a heavy-ass weight you literally can't think about anything. Also seeing the numbers go up builds a lot of confidence.

I lift for mental and bodily health. I have also done some meditation and cutter my daily gaming down to about 2 hours.
Furthermore, I have stopped pushing my duties to the evening and started to gradually sleep earlier. And wake up earlier.
It sounds like I am trying to boast, but I am quite happy that I was able to be awake at 9am and limit my gaming to 2 hours.
I hope that in the weeks and months that come, I can wake up earlier or my gaming habits have become less of an addiction and more of entertainment.

I just generally feel like shit if I'm not working out for a longer period of time. I was always quite active but had to take a near 2 year break due to 2 injuries. Now that I started again, I feel a lot better, drink less and some weed a lot less.

I wouldn't speak of direct MH benefits, I have some very weak depression I take meds for that isn't really affected by lifting, but I do fap 1-2x daily and if I don't lift every other day I feel like that's too much, but after lifting I feel like I deserve however many faps I want.

Are you me?
GAD fucked up my life for the majority of my teenage years, got fat as fuck and developed a full blown panic disorder.
Lifting/General exercise did more than any anti-depressant or benzo to cure it. I'm pretty much fully better now, with an odd hiccup here and there, mostly only when I'm massively hungover.


Protip; Take up a martial art, something like BJJ. Learning to deal with claustrophobic situations like a fucking 300 pound dude lying on top of you using all of his force is a good way to deal with shit you face with GAD/Panic. It forces you to calm down, control your breathing and look for an exit from the situation without freaking the fuck out, because just like a panic attack, freaking the fuck out when someone is trying to snap your arm is just going to result in a bad time.

>smoke

I started running instead of lifting for my mental health but after being constantly plagued by injury I'm going to start lifting. The issue with running to help my depression is that it's hard to justify a rest. Even going with one rest day makes me feel horrible. I'm going to try lifting one day and running the other now.

>Good post, but no, you're probably self-diagnosing.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO