Comment by dec0dedab0de
7 hours ago
Anecdotally, Vitamin D and B12 had more of a positive effect on my mental health than therapy or any of the half dozen prescription meds I tried.
Hiking has the biggest effect though.
I think maybe the problem is that therapists are diagnosing people, and psychiatrists are prescribing pills based on those diagnoses, but neither are ordering bloodwork to check for deficiencies. Which leads to a lot of people suffering from lack of basic health, and treating the symptoms with SSRIs that have withdrawl symptoms a million times worse than most of the problems they treat.
Now to your point, I seriously doubt that vitamin D will hold up against anti-depressants and therapy if we control for other health and quality of life issues. I just think there is a ton of misdiagnosis, and lack of root cause analysis in the mental health field, and health care in general.
I will say that my LMHNP ordered a blood test for me during my ADHD evaluation. I live in the Pacific Northwest and had a serious vitamin D deficiency, apparently like everyone else who doesn’t supplement. also got me started monitoring my blood pressure.
I can definitely tell that the Adderall I was prescribed had an immediate, huge benefit. Not sure about the vitamin D.
But I really appreciated that he took a wide angle look at my health.
> Hiking has the biggest effect though.
Keeping the mind busy with beautiful things and being physically exhausted can heal a lot of things.
Its like surfing on a big day - you are just too tired to be depressive afterwards. It feels like a weight blanket.
I go on regular long walks and it is a huge help.
A few months ago I tried walking with a weighted vest, and my body and brain got completely shocked in a really good way. Wakes up everything. So that is in my mix now.
Walking with 20 then 40 lbs was a lot easier than I expected, and the results were much greater.
> Hiking has the biggest effect though.
I remember reading that pine trees give off a chemical that is a natural human bronchodilator.
One thought of why people love hiking, especially in piney woods, is that the chemical allows humans to process more oxygen which in turn helps them feel more "energized".
I point this out for two reasons:
1. It's a fascinating bit of trivie
2. It highlights that there are MANY confounding variables so it will always be tough to figure out the isolated impact.
I bought an E-Bike two years ago and it’s changed my life. I want to ride my bike all the time, and am counting down the days to spring. During the warmer months I run all the errands I possibly can with my bike instead of driving, and ride for pleasure often, going on multi hour bike rides. It’s just such a blissful feeling, and as I’ve gotten more fit I’ve been able to turn down the bike assist and built a lot of leg muscles.
I do understand there are many things that can make it infeasable to bike during winter, but if you miss your bike absolutely give it a try! I bike year around in Norway. Studded tires help tons, and that the city maintains the bike infrastructure during winter.
Getting an e-bike has got me out getting exercise way more than a regular bike ever did. Being able to dial my effort up and down pushes me further, quite literally in distance and fitness goals. I'm by no means fit and almost did a 5 hour 40 mile ride one day. I completely used up the battery in that time, my legs were cooked from the effort. I would have never attempted something like that on a regular bike unless I was fit.
Are you riding on roads or trails? How are you treated by other road users? I'm tempted by ebikes but live in semi-rural UK with very poor (and getting worse) road surface and lots of blind bends.
I largely ride on paved bike trails that are wholly separate from the roads, or suburban residential roads that have a Swiss cheese of bike trails interconnecting via parks. It’s never the fastest way, but there’s almost always a “safe way” to bike somewhere, due to a lot of effort by our city council. I’m more avoidant of the major roads, an elderly man was extremely close to me and my kid in her bike trailer when he made a right turn, I think I’d be more cautious if I didn’t have so many accessible ways to bike separate from the roads.
Oddly a lot of the “guys with road bikes wearing full gear” seem to just ride on the road anyway. I have no idea why, I’ve double checked the laws and I’m allowed to ride there.