How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety

Re:How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety by cj on Thursday July 04, 2013 @05:17PM (#5992491)

I used to be an avid runner in high school and enjoyed the same benefits as you describe, until junior and senior year when I developed a dull aching pain in my lower legs whenever I ran. I began taking a lot of OTC anti-inflammatories to counter it, which worked for a while.

After seeing a few doctors, it was eventually diagnosed as chronic compartment syndrome. I've been debating whether to go forward with the surgical cure. It's a tough decision, because the condition doesn't present itself outside of long-distance running, and the surgery is rather invasive.

I seriously miss running. For those of you who can run, I strongly recommend it. It can be an immensely enjoyable way to stay in shape.

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Re:How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety by joel_perl_prog on Thursday July 04, 2013 @05:32PM (#5992532)

Sorry to hear about that.

Anything is possible in life. Something could happen to me where I can't run anymore. In which case, I will likely take up cycling.

That said, someone who is basically my running mentor right now has has been running marathons for 30 years (he's 58 years old), and, as an example, was 11th place last year in a marathon that had several hundred of runners. No sign of slowing down. The simple fact is, this is the running future I hope for. (And there are a lot of examples like him!)

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