> Exercise helps with depression, partly because it's not easy, it requires effort and discipline and it's not "fun". Forcing yourself to get out of the house and go for a run is difficult (I know, I went through clinical depression and had to force myself to do this. Still do). It does the same for your body - stresses it to make it more healthy.
Exercise is and can be fun. And there are enough forms of exercise to take the one that matches your personality. People get addicted to exercise and many people overdo it - even injuring themselves for fun.
The struggle to go out was not because exercise is inherently not fun, but because you had depression.
Exercise was used as a punishment during most of my schooling. It's not "fun" (otherwise the punishment wouldn't work). "drop and give me 20" is a punishment, not a reward. Getting addicted to something doesn't mean it's "fun".
You may enjoy exercise. Good for you, I'm jealous. Wish I did. But the reality for the majority of people out there is that it's a chore that they'd rather not do if at all possible.
And thanks for telling me about my depression. Please, go on, tell me more about my life that you clearly understand so much better than me...
The acute life threat of war times and famine was not constant. While 21 century west have higher life expectancy then the past, the "don't know what next week brings" is not how majority of history works. There are such unstable periods (world wars etc) that get changed for stable periods.
Second, parent said that we don't face any struggle which leads to depression. That is not true on any point. People struggle, they are poor or in pain.
Third, unstable periods make mental health issues go worst. Including depression. They also make consequences of those mental health issues worst - meaning depressed person is more likely to die, get hurt or hurt others.
I’ve never heard this before, and that’s a bold claim to make so matter-of-fact without a reference. Do you have one?
What I think needs citation is that this causes depression.
Of course, there's other interpretations: people with depression would have not bothered to get up to feed themselves, because what's the point? They would be early victims of whatever violence the society was under.
I've seen similar while travelling. Poor societies with better family connections are less depressed. Mentally unwell people are looked after by their families. Everyone seems happier and more content with their lives, despite being materially poorer.
Returning to Australia after a year away in Cambodia, my first impression was "why is everyone so unhappy and angry?". It's strange. We have everything, yet we're unhappy.
I'm not criticising our culture or way of life. We naturally want to spend our lives comfortably at peace. We have managed to improve our lives, generation over generation, to the point now where the average person can reasonably expect to live their entire life without fear of violence or starvation and die of natural causes in their 80's.
But just like how eating all the high-calorie food we want leads to diabetes, because our bodies are evolved to a much less calorific diet (and periodic starvation), we evolved to face more challenges. The lack of fear and the ease of our survival leads to mental health problems because we have the luxury of wondering wtf we're doing here, instead of wondering how we're going to survive until next week.
Exercise helps with depression, partly because it's not easy, it requires effort and discipline and it's not "fun". Forcing yourself to get out of the house and go for a run is difficult (I know, I went through clinical depression and had to force myself to do this. Still do). It does the same for your body - stresses it to make it more healthy.
Hopefully it'll change. As following generations get used to lives without struggle or fear or starvation they'll adapt and be more mentally healthy. We'll also conquer diabetes, somehow, I'm sure.