Mental Health and running!!

[Danbert Nocurry]

I work in mental health. I wish that more people could discover the benefits of exercise. Especially running, as its the sense of achievement and freedom as well as natural endorphins etc that people (including myself) find so beneficial.
I'm sure this applies to everyone who runs - whether they've been unfortunate enough to be diagnosed as having a mental health problem or not, but I'm sure that if people can manage to motivate themselvs to run when they might not feel like it (in those low times) that it'd help lift mood and get through those times quicker.
It does seem a bit prescriptive and intrusive when i suggest that people try to exercise more though - i get these looks and i can tell exactly what people are thinking... and i don't blame them one bit.

Good post Will.

According to my missus threre is no doubt that running and swimming make me a more tolerable person.

Exercise definitely defuses stress and right now is probably the only thing that is curtailing my impulse to creep up on my Head Of Department at work and smack him about the head with a pipe wrench.

[scaniagirl]

Dear Glassankles, Go for it - I certainly know when my other half has has to miss a training session, so I support him (or is that push him out of the door!) in his training.
I find that if I have decided to exercise before work that I have to put my running kit in the bathroom the night before, then I'm changed before I wake up properly and once I'm changed I have to go out. Equally if I'm running after work, I put my kit on the sofa in the morning so it's ready as I walk in the door.
I also find that if I go out on the assumption that I only have to do 20 mins, I'll probably extend my run once I'm doing it.
These ploys are good for me on my 'muddy head' days anyway.
Scaniagirl

[Sasquatch]

Scaniagirl. Excellent ideas for getting out and doing a bit when you don't feel much like it - I'll have a go myself i think. I've a rowing machine and exercise bike at home that i try to use when the nippers in bed (and i can't go out) but i'm so lethargic after a day at work - even though i'm not physically active at work - that i often don't bother.

[Alf Tupper]

Some very brave posts on here. I had depression brought on by a very stressful job , i was obese and decided to train for a marathon as a big dream. Never thought i'd do it. Gradually i got slimmer and more positive, i completed my first Marathon in Sheffield in 2001 , i was elated and it still means so much because it was the hardest gained. It annoys and frustrates me that mental health issues are stigmatised , hopefully with the bravery shown by the preceeding forumites it will gradually be accepted. Best wishes to you all.

[Glass Ankles]

Thanks guys for all your support both on and off the forum pages.

It's been another rollercoaster week, my exact diagnosis is ultradian rapid cycling bipolar disorder. This means I can go from an elated / hypomanic state to the edge of a deep depression within an hour and certainly several times in a day. This makes life fairly confusing for me and hard for those close to me.

I am convinced that without running I would be in a far worse state than I am now. The support from the forum and my club mates at Ilkley Harriers has been a crutch I have clung to whilst sinking.

I am lucky to have a family whose support is immense..... so alll in all at the moment life seems manageable and the illness controllable. As I understand more about myself/the illness I am proud of what I am, it makes me unique (I would hate to be boring!) and anyone who has mental health issues should feel the same pride in themselves.

The stigma of mental health is usually caused by the ignorant, the closed minded sector of the population.... probably the same people who look at us fell runners as bonkers. We know their view is not worth listening to and I for one wont let them get me down.

The lack of encouragement, from the medical people, towards running is shocking. My doctors seem more interested in drugs and dosages then hearing me say 'if I run I feel great, please don't try and stop that!'.

My drugs have some side effects, the worst one is the stomach cramps. I got caught out a couple of times whilst running last week and had to stop but now I eat and take the tablets after the run. The other is wind!!!!! not sure how much longer I can rely on the support of my club mates!

This morning I ran 12 miles, then walked from home up to the finish of the junior up hill champs race on the Ilkley moor (about another 8 miles). The races were great and there were some superb performances, but more pertinent, in my view was how great it is to see these kids getting such a grounding in a superb sport. Running and in particular fell running is such an uplifting experience I sincerely hope that if any of those kids have mental health problems in the future they can use their running to muddle their way through.

Thanks again for your support, I hope that the positivity of this thread can be continued as I know there are people reading it and gaining something from it.

This afternoon I'm off to watch the Graeme Obree film. Cheers
Lawrence

[egor]

i think its difficult as some docs are not holistically minded and concentrate on symptom reduction/management from a particular point of reference, gp's/psychiatrists are trained in a particular way and their openess, or lack of it, can depened on the influences of those who trained them, but also on the openess to their own mental health, its easier to be judgemental towards someone than to admit a similarity, im not saying all docs have mental illness, which is a term i rarely use and dont like, but we all have difficulties, in relation to mood, feelings/thoughts, relationships, stress, feeling down etc

I know that there can come a point in which someone is too unwell to function and meds may be helpful, but they are not the only way to think about our difficulties.

from a professional and personal point of veiw i would and do advocate excercise/runnning, if it helps and if it isnt terribly detrimental to other aspects of life/relationships.

Like most, if not all professionals in the mental health buisness, we are on the other side of the desk/line so to speak, but it could have so easily been the other way around and has for a lot of us, more years of therapy than i care to remember...........................

[Glass Ankles]

[quote=egor;49188]i think its difficult as some docs are not holistically minded and concentrate on symptom reduction/management from a particular point of reference,

Take your point Egor, I am only really commenting on the 3 or 4 professionals I have had contact with.

Like everything health wise you need that holistic approach for treatments/cures to be sustainable.

[daz h]

glad your running and feeling good glass ankles
reading your diagnosis i just cant begin to inagine what you go through on a daily basis with your illness my friend, keep us posted on your progress, im very intrested in finding out more about the illness, are there any websites that i could look up.

[Glass Ankles]

Daz try http://www.mdf.org.uk/

[scaniagirl]

glass ankles, how are you doing? getting out I hope in this grey weather - at least you won't get sunburnt!!