It's been my experience that exercise is the absolute BEST medication there is for depression.
I have had chronic depression my whole life. Been hospitalized on 3 separate occasions. Was suicidal on 2 of those occasions and one of those times, I was on a psych ward for 3 months. I've taken every anti-depression medication known to man, and the ONLY thing that has kept the depression at bay, was running. When I ran, the depression ceased. When I didn't run, it came back. Since I have been running again now for over 10 years straight, I have been medication free and depression free. Now running 20 miles a week.
The bad part about this though is what would happen if for some reason, due to injury or illness, I wasn't able to exercise. That is a very scary proposition for me.
I'll be 70 in 2 months and I plan on continuing to run 20 miles a week for as long as I possibly can. What's amazing though is that even at my age, my times are still coming down.
did you know mr fauja singh the very old marathon runner started running in his old age after he lost his wife because it helped him to battle his depression! this is a man who was in the twilight of his life, who spent most of his youth doing grueling farm work and cattle raising. during an age when even a bicycle was a dream to poor villagers.imagine just how much exercise he got from all the walking he did. he ate a strict vegetarian diet as required by his religion and even today despite running marathons, he insists that indian lentils, desi ghee and natural indigenous foods are all he eats. doctors who push skim milk, and ignore processed foods and empty calories would probably not like to discuss how he is still alive despite saturated fat making up a great amount of his lifelong diet. today, finally doctors are learning that the problem is not individual fats or carbs, it is the processed food pumped full of chemicals to keep it from spoiling that is making us sick. how else do skinny men with a sedentary lifestyle and no record of smoking but a record of eating a lifelong American processed diet die from heart attacks? they weren't fat, but the cumulative damage from the processed food caused the attack.
so, eventually the humble man got noticed and soon enough the world learned even more about the human spirit. swear to god, it is amazing how our body is such a gift but most of us never truly harness its strength to achieve true power. I would recommend a natural diet, eat all food that was available before chemistry and food had their ugly baby. that means eat what came before industrialization. this will definitely help your tolerance as well because natural diet encourages your body to express genes that bring thc out of your fat cells along with the rest of the toxins your body sheds when excess water intake and an absence of processed foods is incorporated for a prolonged period. even a week of eating only meat, eggs, nuts, legumes, dairy and fresh produce will help.
I have many times while running felt like stopping when i was feeling dehydration, but then when a particular song starts playing or a memory comes to my mind I am able to get my brain to forget my shortness of breath or pain enough to continue running for just a couple minutes longer. it just amazes me because I will never be able to quantify it or explain it fully with the limited vehicle that is language.