Yes, without a doubt.

A few months ago, a new gym set up near where I live - like, five minutes walking distance away.

We took a tour of it, and saw that it’s a really nice facility. The ventilation and spacing of equipment is good (for avoiding disease), the variety of equipment is good, and it just seems like the ideal gym.

So my family and I thought, “Why not? Let’s get a family membership.” Now I head down there most mornings, spend an hour or so exercising, and then walk back, sometimes with coffee from a nice nearby cafe in hand.

I hadn’t noticed the slow decline in how I felt about my body and my life. I’ve always been a pretty fit guy, but the pandemic made me more sedentary than usual, and it was slowly affecting my self-esteem and mental health.

And I didn’t realize that until the effects of working out regularly showed up and I started looking and feeling better again. It was a “boiled frog” situation.

That gym moving nearby might have saved my life long-term, because I don’t know how I would have gotten the impetus to go to a more distant one otherwise.

It’s just been a few months, but I’ve already put on visible muscle and lowered noticeable belly fat substantially. And more importantly, I feel stronger than I have for several years. Like, lifting things is easier, carrying furniture is easier, just… moving is easier. I probably weigh more, because muscle is denser than fat, but I feel lighter.

It’s a good feeling. It’s clearing away a brain fog I didn’t know I had. My software work is improving, I’m writing again, and I’m re-engaging with hobbies and interests that had fallen by the wayside.

If you can’t or don’t want to get a gym membership, learn some body weight exercises, find a park you can jog at… Do something physical every day. Your brain and body are one system, and keeping all of it tuned and maintained is important for mental health.

It was very helpful for me. I have trouble working out now however. Funnily enough, I tried an experimental ketamine treatment and now that I don’t feel negative it’s harder to make myself exercise

It’s hard to decide any causation for me personally, but my fitness tends to at least correlate positively with my mental health.

Yeah, it helps keep me sharp and alert. Also, emotional regulation.

Diet is probably more important for me. But exercise is definitely beneficial to my mental and emotional health.

Absolutely. No question about it.

If fact I find that exercise is the only thing that brings instant relief. There’s not a single time I’ve went to the gym feeling shitty and came out not feeling better. I believe it’s scientifically proven that exercise is as good or better treatment for depression than anti-depressants.

I don’t notice much of a difference myself, but those around me tell me that there’s a huge difference in my behavior between when I’m exercising regularly and when I’m not. And my roomates have let me know that they prefer that I keep up my exercise routine, as it makes me more pleasant to be around, lol.

An exercise routine has helped me a lot, exercising sporadically, not so much. I don’t really feel a sudden sense of relief from a single session, but I’ve noticed that when I’m working out regularly, I feel better overall. It’s not a sudden change, and not a “cure all”, but it helps me focus better during the day, sleep better at night, crave less junk food/alcohol, and just feel less sense of “everything sucks”. The routine also really helps me stick to other daily habits that I’m embarrassed to admit I struggle with, such as brushing my teeth.

I’m currently working to get back on my full routine, but in the past, I did weightlifting Mon-Fri, with intense cardio (running, stairs, etc.) MWF and chill cardio (walking) TTh. When I was really, really into it, that naturally led to being quite active on weekends too, such as 5k’s, long ass walks around town, and hiking.

My advice to anyone trying to start a routine is to start small and gradually build it up. So step 1 for getting back to my full routine right now is a short daily walk. Once the short walks become a natural part of my daily rhythm, I might make the walks a little longer, add in a little running, and/or add in some light strength training moves, all depending on my overall goals and what feels within reach.

I went to the gym for about a year, went on a stricter diet too, but it was making me even more miserable so I stopped. Absolutely hated the narcissist/“motivational” subculture surrounding it all too.

It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what put me in a better mental state, as I started working out, dieting, and decreasing my alcohol consumption all at once. I don’t think working out by itself is going to help, you have to attack the issue from various angles.

This is really frustrating to type out, but honestly no. I’ve been working out consistently for 2-3 months now, and if anything I feel more tired and irritated throughout the day than I did before. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, so it’s possible that the extra activity minus a little bit of sleep is to blame rather than the exercise itself. I look and feel much stronger than I did before, and I’d like to think that my mental attitude has improved, but honestly ever since I started working out I just always want to be in bed.

Here’s my experience. Working out as in strength training I did for 9 months and, no, I did get more fit and that is satisfactory but leaves me just super tired.

Long distance running and cycling I’ve done on and off throughout the years give me a runner’s high and though tired I feel really good.

Yeah I feel better exercising. Makes me feel tired at first but better mentally. Probably because the brain gets a break when exercising and also because the body creates endorphins.

I wasn’t depressed to begin with but weightlifting helped me feel better about myself and quieting those voices that kept telling me that i was to lazy & fat. A year ago i started running which is much harder starting from zero but the mental effect of an extended run or the rewarding feeling of completing your first 10k is incredible.

Also dont wait for motivation, just start now and it will come later.

For me, definitely. I will have to mention that my exercise comes from a hobby, hand tool woodworking, and that exercise in the gym hasn’t helped.

It’s definitely a fantastic feeling to pour all of your effort into a task and see the fruits of your labour. It feels really good to work with extreme determination, nearly passing out several times and finally seeing the finished project. Then immediately zonking out.

It also helped me a lot because working out to exhaustion makes my sleep a lot more consistent, which for a long time was a major factor in my depression.

For me, gym exercise wasn’t very helpful because (to me) it felt arbitrary. Lift this thing X times, do this motion X times, etc. When it’s a hobby there’s a clear start, beginning and end goal, and it’s much more satisfying in my opinion.

Yes in my case BUT I had to find the right exercise for me as well as the best time of day to do it.

I now do it everyday and have done so for 17+ years. Sometimes I pepper some different stuff here and there, but nothing crazy. Also, food. The correct meals for me have made all the difference in the world in how I feel. This also includes some extra minerals that my body needs.