![]() ![]() Life often feels like waiting out a series of not-horrible, not-fun obligations. My dysthymia has two main components: weltschmerz, a German word meaning sadness about how reality doesn’t live up to one’s hopes, and anhedonia, a diminished ability to experience pleasure. Most people would consider me productive, accomplished, perhaps even energetic, given that my lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles. Unlike many with the condition, I’ve never been majorly incapacitated by depression. Science continues working to explain the theory behind what we runners already know from practice. The emerging, more sophisticated view of running to improve mental health also takes into account long-term structural changes in the brain as well as subjective states like mood and cognition. How does moving the body change the mind? A growing body of work-both in the lab and with patients-shows that there’s more to it than endorphins, the well-known opioid the body produces during certain activities, including exercise. guidelines have yet to change, at least one psychotherapist, Sepideh Saremi in Los Angeles, California, conducts on-the-run sessions with willing patients. In countries such as Australia, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, official guidelines include exercise as a first-line treatment for depression. Studies show that aerobic exercise can be as effective as anti-depressants in treating mild to moderate depression (and with side effects like improved health and weight management rather than bloating and sexual dysfunction). Meredith and I discovered this decades ago, and now researchers and practitioners are starting to catch up. For those of us with depression or anxiety, we need running like a diabetic needs insulin. What’s not universal is our recognition that, without regular running, the underlying fabric of our lives-our friendships, our marriages, our careers, our odds of being something other than miserable most of the time-will fray. Like all runners, we relish the short-term experience of finishing our run feeling like we’ve hit reset and can better handle the rest of the day. We do have one key thing in common: Meredith and I run primarily to bolster our mental health. We like to joke that Meredith stays up late as a way of avoiding the next day, whereas I go to bed early to speed the arrival of a better tomorrow. I have dysthymia, or chronic low-grade depression. Meredith is a worrier, beset by regrets and anticipated outcomes, who has sought treatment for anxiety. I’ve set PRs in solo time trials and tend to bail when a run’s head count gets above five. Meredith runs her best in large races and loves training with big groups. I’m an introverted editor who works from home. Meredith is a voluble social worker who draws energy from crowds. For such close friends, we’re quite different. Most Tuesdays, I run early in the morning with a woman named Meredith.
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