Depression is a complex medical disorder and has been recognized since the days of Hippocrates. In the 1950s and 60s, depression was categorized into two types, endogenous and neurotic (reactive). Endogenous depression is caused by something inside the body, perhaps genetic or nutritional. Neurotic or reactive depression has a definitive external precipitating factor, such as the death of a spouse, friend, child or loss of a job. In the 1970s and 80s, the global impact of depression was fully realized and the focus of attention shifted from the cause of depression to its effects on the afflicted individuals and their treatment.
Much has been said about the physical benefits of aerobic exercise. It’s true that a regular schedule of aerobic exercise can reduce migraines, help lose weight, reduce heart attack and stroke, lower blood pressure and improve all measures of stamina and physical health…maybe even add years to our lives, but that’s not the whole story. Regular aerobic exercise is as important to our sense of well-being and mental health as it is to our physical health. As you’ll see in this article, even if aerobic exercise did nothing to increase our lifespan, the increase in our quality of life is well worth the effort.
The poet, W. H. Auden, dubbed our time as “the Age of Anxiety”. It is predictably certain, that in a post 9/11 world that is becoming aware of inconvenient truths like global warming and pandemics, general and pervasive anxiety will continue to grip the hearts and minds of growing numbers of people. As I do training and speaking in dozens of companies, associations and government organizations every year, and have done so over the past three decades, I can state from experience that clinical levels of anxiety are approaching epidemic levels in the most workplaces. It is a significant but invisible cost to practically every organization. |