Curing depression with exercise?

I have had clinical depression for ten years, and whilst exercise isn't the complete cure, I have found half an hour a day, plus healthy eating absolutely amazing for my mood! I was instructed to do so by both my doctor and therapist, however medication & therapy are also a big part of keeping my depression under-wraps.

I suggest starting exercise, cutting a lot of sugar out to help with low mood, but definitely also see your doctor.

I hope you are on the up soon hunni. x

Your situation reminds me of multiple friends of mine who have suffered from bi-polar disorder who voluntarily discontinue their meds. They all fall back down into depression once they go off of it. As an alternative to going off of it (since it seemed to be working), have you spoken to your doctor about trying something else that perhaps won't make you feel as sick? There's a wide variety of anti-depressants out there to treat clinical depression, I'm sure there is one that will meet your needs without reducing your daily quality of life. I'm sorry to hear about your dog and the distance between you and your husband. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Eta: I think exercise will help to elevate your mood and overall sense of well-being, but if you have clinical depression, it will not have that great long-lasting mood elevating affect that you're going for. It is certainly worth doing regardless, but I believe it's probably more of a supplement to treatment rather than a cure.

depends on the causes. if their is a chemical or physical cause in he brain then exercising might not be much of a cure.

it's the same thing for physical ailments. if you walk with a limp because of an old injury that hasnt healed properly then you'll be able to do stuff to cure it than if you were born with 1 leg shorer than the other.

I stumbled upon this discussion of yours, while looking for exercise as a cure for depression. I think that antidepressants are the answer for major depressive disorder, as exercise alone wouldn't benefit these people, especially that exercise has no instant effect on depression (or maybe just a mere relief at the end of the workout session), BUT it's cumulative and would help over time. However, exercise alone can easily lift mild to moderate depression, and it does some changes to the brain chemistry that mimic those of an antidepressant, so first talk to your psychiatrist about your mood, he will tell you whether your depression is moderate or severe, and if it's not a major depressive disorder, you can easily cure it with exercise.
Note that stressful life events can easily trigger depression especially in those who had previous episodes, so what you've been experiencing for the last 2 weeks are early signs of relapse, and can be helped with exercise. But anyway, talk to your shrink about it. Good luck.