Health Update: Running Helps Depression Equal to Meds, but…

Mark Smith • November 27, 2023


 Hello again everyone: 

 

This time of year is known for celebrating gratitude, but if you are feeling down this time of year can be difficult. Here is some news to lift you up and yes, you read that correctly, running eases depression as effectively as prescription medication, but…the running increases your overall health but meds do not. There is obviously a place for both approaches, but whenever possible, get physical if you are feeling depressed. As you all know from my previous blog posts, inflammation will cause, perpetuate, or aggravate every known chronic human ailment, including depression. You might guess that running is anti-inflammatory, and you would be correct. Here is what the authors had to say:

  • Researchers from Amsterdam conducted a study to see whether running therapy could be as helpful as antidepressants for treating depression and anxiety symptoms. 
  • The researchers found that both groups experienced similar improvements in their depression symptoms. 
  • However, the running group also saw improvements in physical health, while the antidepressant participants experienced slightly worse physical health.

 

 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/running-therapy-may-be-as-beneficial-for-depression-as-antidepressants?utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MNT%20Daily%20News&utm_content=2023-10-14&apid=41304130&rvid=a32216b5e1c0c5df3c84080e2b2e161318206dbce6fd663dd747aa557a4753cd

 

Bottom Line:

 

Thanksgiving is about sharing gratitude, and one great way to do that is to be an example of what it means to be healthy and share your energy. When it comes to depression, one thing to try is to get fit and stay fit and keep your brain and emotional state in a good and healthy state. One of my favorite exercises is walking, and I add a little extra to it. Just start walking, not slow, not fast, but at a good pace…when you feel warmed up…for 30 seconds just walk at 75% of your maximal walking ability…sort of like Olympic race walking…just move it for 30 seconds and then go back to your regular pace. Once your heart rate slows down to normal after some minutes of walking, repeat the higher intensity interval, then back to normal pace. Repeat this for 30 minutes or so. If you are out of shape, start with just 5 to 10 minutes. Over time, you should see that the time it takes to recover to a normal heart rate becomes shorter, indicating improved cardio-pulmonary-vascular function. If you are not exercising, get your physicians Ok for this. Start easy, gradually increase time and effort. You may start out walking the fast part at just 30 to 40% faster and as you get feeling stronger, you can increase the effort. If you are way out of shape, just start walking at an easy pace for a short distance and time…getting moving is an essential part of aging well and keeping your health up. Such an approach can add years to your health span, which should translate to a longer and better lifespan. If you are having depression issues, get moving and look for all of the possible drivers of inflammation and remediate them all.


Happy Thanksgiving to One and All from all of us here at Richmond Chiropractic Neurology! 

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Health News Update: Inflammaging is Bad News

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Hello everyone: I think I have mentioned inflammaging before but never really focused on it. So, let’s dig into this interesting topic. Inflammaging is when chronic, low-grade inflammation develops with age as dietary and environmental stress accumulates, contributing to the development of all of the various age-related diseases and health issues. It results from a loss of control over systemic inflammation, which tends to come from an unbalanced and dysregulated immune system. One of the key drivers of inflammaging is diet…which means that one of the key tools to slow and reduce aging is our what we eat as well as what we don’t eat. In this paper, the authors reveal that the typical Western Diet (what science calls the Standard American Diet or S.A.D.) is the best example of a pro-inflammatory diet pattern. “ Conclusion: Inflammation is a key physiological process in immunity and tissue repair. However, during aging it becomes increasingly more chronic. In addition, we found that certain foods such as saturated fats have pro-inflammatory activity. Taking this into account, in this review we have proposed some dietary guidelines as well as a list of compounds present in foods with anti-inflammatory activity. It must be taken into account that the amounts used in the studies that detect anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds are very high, and the intake of a single food to achieve its anti-inflammatory power is not feasible. (My Comment: what this means is that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most.) However, the combination of foods rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could exert beneficial effects during aging and in pathologies associated with inflammation and in reducing the detrimental effects of foods with pro-inflammatory activity. Therefore, we can conclude that the compounds in our diet with anti-inflammatory activity could help alleviate the inflammatory processes derived from diseases and unhealthy diets and thereby promote healthy aging. Thus, we can use diet not only for nourishment, but also as medicine.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389628/ anti-inflammatory diet and health aging https://www.healthline.com/health/5-minute-guide-to-inflamm-aging Bottom Line: We all must age, and how we do so is largely under our own control. To create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is not that difficult, especially if you put it all together in stages. Start with a clean, whole-food, unprocessed plant-based food plan. And to begin, first focus on what you can add into your menus and use those additions to sort of crowd out the things that are more inflammatory…sugar, refined grains, processed and pre-packaged things. Set realistic goals such as going plant based one or two days a week, or even one meal…just start and gradually work up. It has to be doable so don’t stress. Next, start moving and doing regular exercise at least three times a week…and find what you enjoy doing and focus on that. Then add activities that de-stress you, whether that is socializing, church, meditation, prayer, yoga, etc. Overall, shift your attention to giving love to things that love you back. Sugar, drive-thru and processed food like thingies do not love you back but apples or kiwis or berries or veggies do. Sitting around does not love you back but going for a short walk after a meal does love you back. Hang out and give love to the people you really like to be with, they will most always love you back. Create a love you back lifestyle and see how you feel.

Health News Update: Blocking Internet on Smartphones Improves Mental Health

By Mark Smith • August 18, 2025
Hello everyone: I frequently hear about mental health issues with the people in our practice. They could be experiencing depression, or anxiety, feel flat, can’t focus or sustain attention, or may not feel well in general. These comments can come from anyone of any age…I can hear from parents about their kids, or it may be themselves experiencing these feeling. So, when I read this paper, it felt important to share it because we all seem to have mobile phones. Here is how the paper is summarized: “Concern about how smartphones affect users is widespread: half of American smartphone users—and 80% of those under age 30—worry that they use their device too much, and correlational research suggests that smartphone use is negatively related to mental health and cognitive functioning. However, few large-scale experiments have tested for causal effects. We report such an experiment, finding that blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks reduces smartphone use and improves subjective well-being (SWB) (including life satisfaction and positive affect), mental health (more than antidepressants), and sustained attention (as much as being 10 years younger). Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects.” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=randomized%20controlled%20trial&utm_content=randomized%20controlled%20trial&_kx=fARhTo_gi8X3B_2-MaeO_RyzUl9tvT3tr4re-Dy7cNQ.my75y6 Bottom Line: It seems like a smartphone ‘timeout’ can be very beneficial for mental, emotional, physical health and can be an important part of stress reduction. The world today, with nearly instant communications, the almost constant bad and anxiety promoting news, and the fast pace of data consumption can add up to significantly stress us out and pull us down…or just simple keep us distracted. From what I can see, a ‘timeout’ may be just what the doctor ordered.
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