Here’s an interesting statistic; According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, mental illness will be experienced by 20% of the population in any given year.
Depression affects people of all ages. The one treatment that does not involve drugs or specific psychiatric interventions is exercise. All types of exercise have been found to provide some beneficial effect.
Fighting off depression and exercise should go hand in hand. Exercise boosts mood, helps reduce stress, improves sleep, and boosts low serotonin levels which are linked to depression. Exercise can reduce blood pressure, assist in weight loss, improve respiratory function, digestion….
Of the thousands of seniors that I have seen in my Practice over the last 25 years, can you take a guess at how many had been advised by their family doctors or psychiatrists to increase or start an exercise program to improve their physical and mental wellbeing? If the answer is not zero, it’s pretty darn close.
How many of that same group were given prescriptions for sleeping, anxiety or depression? At least one third. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture?
