A number of us have already discussed this, that commuting (or any form of cycling) helps us manage our depression. In today's Globe and Mail, there is an article titled Outrunning Depression and although the article focuses on people with depression finding that participating in running helps them, the article also expands its discussion to include exercise in general.

Coincidentally, before I read this, while on my commute in to work today, I got to wondering if communities with significant populations of bike commuters have any statistics regarding reduced rate of depression in their population, Copenhagen for instance.

Hard to separate the reduced day time increased darkness hours of winter from this analysis.

Danes are the happiest people on the planet.

Copenhagen metro area = 2M ppl
Denmark = 5.7M ppl

source:

World Happiness Report - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have depression. When I exercise regularly, I have fewer symptoms.
It's a bonus if I can exercise while the sun is strong.

That's more due to these:

Diet and exercise have been shown to be more effective in treating mild to moderate depression than drugs.

Same here ... mine is low grade and typically seasonal (SAD). I'm medicated, but if I'm medicated and exercising regularly (commuting, general cycling, strength training) my mood is much better.

Another one whose mood is heavily influenced by the amount of exercise I do. Lots of exrercise, I feel good about myself, more exercise, virtuous circle. Lack of exercise, feel bad about myself, less motivation to exercise, vicious circle. I suspect, but cannot prove, that increased rates of depressive illness correlate with increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

The 3 B's keep me happy.

Beer, Bikes, & Buds

Cheese Danishes keep me happy, too.

I'm gluten-free and can't eat this, now you've made me depressed!!!

From a Facebook-friend :
An aging master grew tired of his apprentice’s complaints. One morning, he sent him to get some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master told him to mix a handful of salt in a glass of water and then drink it.“How does it taste?” the master asked.“Bitter,” said the apprentice.
The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.

“No,” said the young man. At this the master sat beside this serious young man, and explained softly,“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”


A bike ride through the woods expands my "container" .

Wow!

For me, the more i put off riding the less well i feel. When i feel super stressed, nothing like a peaceful ride through town in my "zone" and maybe down to the creek in the park to sit or skip rocks, or both.

I enjoy grocery shopping by bike far more than if someone offers transport, as well.

- Andy

I agree with you ... my typical week consists of:

50-70 miles cycling
500 miles high-speed rail (125mph)
40 miles slow-speed rail (50-80mph)
10 miles of buses
usually 1-2 car trips (between 10 and 100 miles depending on events)

the cycling is usually the best part!

I enjoyed the article posted by the OP, but find it a little weird and frustrating that much writing about depression just treats it as a condition that increasing numbers of people mysteriously have, and then uses that as a launching point to discuss drugs and possibly exercise as therapies for it, when that seems to approach the whole thing backward! It seems more that we evolved around a general activity level, and that many parts of the body suffer when we don't get enough. So a healthy diet and regular exercise ought to be the starting point for treating depression, not a sidebar to it. (Please note that I am not against using drugs to treat depression when the condition merits it.)

To respond to the OP more directly, I don't have depression in any diagnosed sense, but I certainly get some SAD over the winter, and really notice that I had it when spring rolls around and I'm spending more time 1) biking 2) in the sun. My girlfriend can tell, and pushes me to ride whenever there's a good day for it.

The US medical system is designed to create profits for the drug and insurance companies, not healthy patients. Sick patients are more profitable than healthy patients, and sick patients that have a condition that need a lot of drugs are what the US medical system is based on.

All pharma companies are based on this. Try getting them to spend a dime on antibiotics research!

I find I physical activity in general helps keep me in a good frame of mind. I love outdoor physical activity best.

I also find morning physical activity(biking to work, or the gym) helps wake me up and give me mental clarity.

Heath care should never be for-profit. Might sound radical to some here, but i feel that here in the US, our energy & heath care should be nationalized & single payer, ie taxes pay for it vs out of pocket. Imagine paying for your energy use via the national tax pool & same with health care? There are some drawbacks to this kind of layout obviously, however i feel the main problems with these industries would be better addressed and with more accountability.

- Andy

seems OK.

Since one of the symptoms of depression is the lack of desire to do anything, how is a depressed person going to start exercising? I get a mental picture of picking yourself up by the scruff of your own neck.

I often pick myself up by the scruff of my neck because I know hard it's going to be if I let myself go several days without exercise. I would go back to picking up a bottle on the way home (and watching my waistline expand) before too long.

Antibiotics are used in sick people. They are profitable drugs and being actively developed. There was a lull in new antibiotic drug development, because the existing ones worked fine. That is changing.

Actually, they're not profitable (not even close) and no they're not being actively developed as they result in huge losses as they're not used in chronic patients (10-14 days max on a €1-5B investment leads to crappy fiscal returns.) Over here, the only viable solution being discussed is nationalised screening and production.

FWIW, this is my current major research avenue.

An accurate picture. Obligations to a positive, fun, supportive exercise community (not just a class or gym, but a community) really helps. 1 - you have to show up. 2 - you want to show up because of the people there.