The thought of doing something as ordinary as going to the grocery store used to overwhelm Becky Stuto, who’s experienced depression for about 13 years. “Depression … is like bricks or a lead cape that you wear that is just weighing you down,” she says. “Every task is overwhelming.”
But today when Stuto, a 45-year-old associate clinical social worker in Sacramento, California, cracks her last egg or depletes her dark chocolate stash, a trip to the grocery store seems like what it is: something she, like everybody else, simply has to do now and then. “I’m OK with it,” she says. “I feel lighter; my way of thinking is more proactive and not just stagnant.”
Stuto is not a walking advertisement for an antidepressant, nor an electroconvulsive therapy success story. In fact, she’s never tried medical treatments for her depression, which she’s controlled mostly through aerobic exercise, healthy eating and sufficient sleep. Still, it wasn’t until she began powerlifting last summer that she experienced the type of relief more frequently associated with drugs. “My confidence improved — my depression levels were really going down,” she says. “I was overall happier and much more optimistic.”
[See: 11 Simple, Proven Ways to Optimize Your Mental Health.]
Exercise of any sort is well-known to improve mental health, says Michael Parent, an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, who is also a competitive bodybuilder. “It enhances mood, it will help with sleep … it helps [people] feel better about their body,” he says. “It gives people one more thing about themselves that they can take some pride in.”
But while most attention on depression and exercise focuses on heart-pumping activities like running — which is thought to improve mood in part by enhancing the production of feel-good brain chemicals like endorphins — some research and plenty of testimonials suggest weight training, despite being anaerobic, may have mental health benefits above and beyond other types of exercise for some people. “There’s a different high when you make a lift or complete your program that day,” says Li Faustino, a clinical psychologist in New York City who treats people with depression and also powerlifts.
One small study, for example, found that 80 percent of older adults with depression experienced a significant reduction in symptoms after a 10-week resistance training program. Another study of depressed adults over age 60 found that most of those who were assigned to a high-intensity resistance training program reduced their symptoms by 50 percent, while far fewer of those in low-intensity programs or receiving standard care from a physician saw similar results.
“When you challenge yourself and push yourself, it’s really hard not to feel pride when you’re done, and pride is the opposite of that depressive, powerless feeling,” says Kelly Coffey, a personal trainer in Northampton, Massachusetts, who began lifting weights soon after she was diagnosed with depression about 12 years ago. “You cannot help but feel proud and empowered and satisfied at the end of a good lift.”
There are other theories as to why weightlifting in particular can work to ease depression. Outside of the sense of accomplishment that can turn depressive thoughts like “I can’t” and “I’m worthless” into “I can” and “I’m powerful,” lifting heavy weights without injuring yourself demands complete mental attention in a way that, say, chugging along on an elliptical doesn’t, Coffey finds. “When you’re in depression, you’re ruminating and worrying and fuming and feeling badly and second-guessing, and it’s all mental,” she says. “It’s this trap that lifting weights safely has to lift you out of.”
Taking up weightlifting also often involves joining a supportive community that emphasizes strength over slenderness and can be particularly helpful for women whose depression is tied to body image issues, experts say. “In the [weightlifting] community, not only is strength and being big helpful and applauded, but also people are open about not liking their body and growing to like their body,” Faustino says.
That mentality rubbed off on Stuto, whose depression deepens when she focuses too much on her weight. “I don’t step on the scale anymore,” she says. “Maybe I’m the same size, [but] my body shape has changed and I look stronger and I feel stronger.”
[See: The Best Olympic Sport for Your Body Type.]
If you’re wondering if pumping iron could help treat your depression, heed these expert tips before hitting the weight room:
1. Know the limits.
Here’s what psychologists know treats depression: therapy (be it talk, group, cognitive behavioral or another type), medication and often some combination of both, Faustino says. While exercise, meditation, light therapy and other non-medical treatments can also help, they typically work best among people with mild or moderate depression, she says. For people with severe depression who struggle just to get out of bed, on the other hand, weightlifting is an impractical solution. “You have to match [the treatment] with the person and the right place in their depression,” Faustino says.
2. Ask for help.
To learn proper form and avoid injury, hire a trainer who specializes in the type of strength training you’re interested in, ask a lifter at your gym for a tip or seek weightlifting classes for beginners. While reaching out to strangers can be especially intimidating for people with depression, forcing yourself to do so is a common strategy to help overcome the condition, Parent says. Plus, you’re likely to be well-received: “It’s a nice community where people want people to do this in a safe manner,” Stuto says.
3. Be consistent.
While some of the mood-boosting benefits of exercise are immediate, consistency is critical for longer-term mental and physical results, says Tanzy Chandler, a 38-year-old physical therapist and personal trainer in Sacramento who signed up for a CrossFit competition after weaning off antidepressants. “The weekly training required to prepare me for the competition was just what my mind and body needed,” she says. Coffey also finds that clients with depression who lift heavy weights multiple days a week see the greatest mental health gains. “Depression is a daily occurrence, and so the treatment should also be a daily occurrence,” she says.
[See: 7 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise.]
4. Don’t give up.
If weightlifting isn’t your cup of tea, try something different, Parent advises. Consider whether you prefer activities that are social or solitary, indoors or outdoors, aerobic or anaerobic — and experiment. “People will benefit the most from whatever they’re inclined to,” he says, be it yoga, running or lifting. It’s all worth a try, says Stuto, whose relief began with a single squat. “If you can do one thing, congratulate yourself,” she says. “Look back on that and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I just did that.'”
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Can Weightlifting Treat Depression? originally appeared on usnews.com
