sometimes it takes a lot for me to get motivated to go to the gym, but I find that afterwards I have such a positive attitude and I'm very peaceful...I sleep better too.

I just don't know what I would do without exercise and I'm glad there are so many different forms.

Yes, but not alone. To achieve happiness and keep it I have to exercise daily, laugh for at least a 1/2 hour a day and always have someone on hand for those anger moments since I don't do well with sadness I get angry instead. Usually walking my dogs in the woods is the best, combining two things I love (animals and nature) with something that supposedly releases chemicals in the brain.

Before I go to the gym, I really don't even want to go. I sit around and I'm like "no, I don't want to." Due mostly to the fact I have a fear of being around strangers. But after I suck it up and just go, I feel amazing afterwards.


But now I am looking for something to due at home, daily.

im the same. not coz i dont want to be around people though, just coz the thought of how much energy i will put into the workout puts me off lol

Personally, for me, absolutely 100% yes.

I deal with a laundry list of mental illness issues, presumably stemming from post traumatic stress disorder, including recurrent depressive episodes, chronic insomnia, and moderate to severe anxiety. Meds had little to no effect on treating these, and therapy was only moderately helpful.

Exercise (and possibly diet - I started them at the same time so I can't readily determine which brought about the major change) has been the only thing that has relieved nearly all of my symptoms. I have gone from a depressive episode every 2 months to only one in a year and a half. I've gone from 2-3 panic attacks a day to perhaps once a week, and then only in stressful situations. Nightly insomnia has gone down to once or twice a week. I am not on any medications or doing anything different, other than the diet and exercise, and am now mentally capable of dealing with things in therapy that were WAY too overwhelming to tackle before, and am doing so without all of the usual effects when I start dealing with something difficult (an increase in depression, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms) The turnaround has been, for me at least, really remarkable!

I'm exactly the same! I LOVE working out! I really look forward to it everyday! I have never been like that before, but i think that it's because ive been doing the wrong exercises!

I believe it really does work...although I used to be skeptic....but I know that if I stop I get even more depressed.......Hmmmm

Its great to hear everyones positive stories about exercise!

I think exercise definitely helps to boost me out of my depression. I never thought I'd see the day that I said I looked forward to exercising, but I do. It may have helped that at the same time I started working out, I also started taking a low dose of Wellbutrin each day. I'm not sure if it is both things in conjunction that are helping me or just one, but I will keep at it since I am feeling good.

Ya know, I've also thought a lot about this. Like mandalinn, I suffer(ed) from horrible anxiety with debilitating panic attacks hitting me several times a day. I couldn't leave my room some days and others I couldn't get to sleep until 3-4 a.m. I avoided calls from people I love because I was terrified they had bad news. I was scared and exhausted all the time. It honestly felt like my life was one big panic attack. Just awful.

Exercise definately does help. But personally, I'm not sure if it's the actual exercise or if it's that I'm doing something that I'm proud of. I walk out of that gym feeling so proud of myself, so happy with my body, and so accomplished. Eh, it's probably a combo of the two. Either way, I rarely have a panic attack these days and I'm off meds after taking Prozac for a while. Two very, very nice things.

It depends. Right now, no, because my main form of exercise is walking and I'm too out of shape to get enough endorphins pumping for long enough to make as much of a difference. Hmmm... this makes me think though. A bike wouold work. I just need to figure out a place to ride it (and a place that doesn't require too much gas to get to).

Oh, absolutely! Even on the days where I don't want to go to the gym, I give myself the "10-minute Rule". If I get on a machine and still hate it after 10 minutes, I leave... but that's only happened once. After 10 minutes, I'm usually stoked to do 20 more and I feel: afterwards! And I'm stoked for the rest of the day as well!!

It always makes me feel better afterwards; for me, it's also that I was in control of myself and did the right thing, and that feels so good.

The best I have ever felt with my OCD/anxiety is when I am exercising regularly and eating healthy. I also take a B-complex vitamin which helps with my moods and overall mental health.

I have been there before - my OCD has been so bad that it's all I can do to drag myself out of bed, stare at my computer screen at work for 8 hrs a day, and go straight home to get back in bed. I know how it feels when it seems like just existing from day to day is a lot of work and not worth it. But every time I exercise, not only does it make me feel better, it gets my mind off of the things that are bothering me. I listen to uplifting, happy music and it makes me feel good all over.

I have tried meds in the past, but I didn't like how it made me feel. However, I don't discount that for a lot of people, meds give you enough to be able to grasp the practices taught in CBT and use them in your every day life. For me, CBT/ERP helped tremendously, and I know of many people who use meds in combination with therapy to help them gain control of their mental health issues.

The first thing my therapist recommended was that I get into an exercise routine and take care of myself. Since doing that, I feel way better about myself and my OCD rarely bothers me anymore.