Depressed no motivation to exercise

"I know exercise is supposed to help me fight depression, but how can I find the motivation to work out when I'm depressed?"

Depression definitely can make it hard to find the motivation for exercise (among other things) because loss of interest in normal activities, along with the ability to enjoy them, is often one of the main symptoms of depression. But what does that mean in practical terms?

It definitely doesnt mean that youll have to wait until your depression has cleared up before youll be able to start building up a regular exercise routine. In fact, it probably means just the opposite. You might need to stop looking for your motivation or waiting for it to appear before you start working out. Instead, recognize that feeling unmotivated is part of the illness and that starting a regual exercise routine is important to help youe depression. Its a lot like getting out of bed in the morning on a low day—you might not feel like it,but you know that if you dont do it, things are only going to go downhill from there.

Start with where you are today, and move forward from there. Exercise doesnt have to mean 60 minutes of heart-pounding, heavy-breathing activity that leaves you sweaty, sore and exhausted. And you dont need any special equipment or a gym membership to get started. You can start with something as simple as a walk around the block, going up and down your stairs a couple of times, or just taking some time to stretch your muscles while youre watching TV. The important thing at first is to make a deal with yourself that youll do something every day rather than nothing. Once youve established a good streak of doing some activity every day, you can take the next step of trying to do a little more today than you did yesterday, and setting yourself some realistic goals that will keep things interesting.

Pay Attention to how your efforts make you feel
One of the chief benefits of exercise, especially if youre dealing with depression, is the way it stimulates the release of endorphins and neurotransmitters in your brain. These are your bodys natural feel-good chemicals, and they can provide a signafint mood boost at the same time theyre helping you generate some motivation to keep moving. You can make it easier for your endorphins to do all this for you if you pay attention to how your exercise makes you feel.

Notice how youre feeling before, during, and after your exercise. Did your energy level pick up once you got started? Did you feel better afterward than you did before you started? How do you feel after you decide to skip your workouts, and how does that compare to how you feel when you decide to just do it? On days when you find yourself struggling to get started to exercise take a moment to ask yourself how youd rather feel today and which choice seems most likely to help you make that happen?

Reward yourself for successes, small and large.
One of the best ways to turn one good decision into a string of good decisions is to reward yourself. Earlier I mentioned starting a streak of days on which you decide to do some kind of physical activity rather than none. You can help yourself achieve this goal by setting a specific and reasonable target of consecutive days (lets say seven) and then setting up a reward you can earn by achieving that goal. Maybe theres a book you think you might enjoy or a movie youd like to see, or maybe its been a while since youve gone out for dinner with a friend. It can be anything, really, as long as it wont bust your budget or add any stress to your life. And if you can pick a reward that involves something you used to enjoy before becoming depressed, all the better.Once youve achieved your first goal, set another one thats a bit more challenging, like working your way up to 30 minutes of exercise, and find a new reward. Keep your goals secific and relatively short-term, and reasonable, and always keep in mind that progress doesnt require perfection. If you miss a day of exercise that doesnt end this whole project—it just means you start counting your seven days over at one again.

Share your efforts with someone else in the same boat.
One of the factors that can make depression difficult to beat is that people who havent been depressed often dont seem to understand what you're going through. Often, they seem to think (and will be happy to tell you) that you just need to snap out of it or pull yourself together. Thats not true, any more than someone with diabetes or pneumonia just needs to snap out of it; and its not helpful. One thing that does seem pretty clear is that people do a lot better at overcoming depression when they have the support and company of people who do know what youre dealing with—because theyre also trying to do the same thing. So if youre struggling to establish a regular exercise routine, find others in the same boat.