I had doctors for my depression for years, and they would occasionally say things like “some people feel a little better when they exercise. It’s the endorphins”

What I wish they had done instead was grab me by the lapel, slam me agains the wall, slap me a couple of times, and yell “You fool, you’re depressed because your brain has atrophied from lack of movement! Your natural state is very happy but you evolved to be moving your body!”

When I finally did connect those dots, and finally saw the research on hippocampal neurogenesis, I upped my running from 2 miles maybe every other week, to like 30 miles a week.

And the depression was gone. For the first time in decades. The effect was so much more powerful than the meds.

Read up on exercise, BDNF, hippocampal volume, and depression.

Or just trust me, and go run like a caveman chasing a deer to exhaustion.