I have been struggling with this for some time...First off I suffer from depression, and as I know from research, etc Exercise is one of the best activities to engage in to stave off depression.

Here's where my problem lies, when Im training (ie I do strength training, boxing, muay thai, wrestling, Jiu-jitsu, etc) I feel great, sometimes not completely confident all the time (as with the combat types of training) but over all I have a rebound effect that is very stimulating and promotes wellbeing.

This lasts for about 1/2 hour afterwards, then suddenly I crash hard! To the point where I am in a deeper depressive state than when I started, often times I feel like just crying for no apparent reason. This even occurs when I have my best workouts.

What could be the cause of this? Are there others out there with similar experiences? Suggestions, discussion, etc.

Thanks

Yume

I've searched high and low for some answers and to no avail. Most people think Im nuts that this happens to me. I think its probably the neurochemical dump and then a drop off that with a little help on my part a "feeling" of being depressed, but its more mental than chemical or maybe a combination.

All the research Ive read has told me the opposite "Exercise Defeats Depression/Anxiety) it does not talk about any post exercise mood crash...I'll keep looking

What are you eating before and after exercise? How long are you exercising?

Prior to exercise I eat some easily digestable carbs, minimal fat (research shows fat during exercise limits GH release), some whey protein and pleanty of water.

I exercise for about 1hour 15 minutes including warmup and cooldown. Post workout is a recovery shake I make myself using whey protein, maltodextrin, and mixed fruit as a smoothie, then about 1.5-2 hours later I eat again.

All this is based off current research in exercise nutrition (Im a strength and conditioning specialist)

you know what? I neglected to mention that I drink things like "endorush" and NO-Xplode, etc things with super high caffeine, synephrine, tyrosine, vinpocetine, dmae, octopamine, etc and at such high levels that that is porbably giving me that crash as I get a massive dopamine dump and then a drop off...

I was in hopes someone would help me with just such a stack (nootropic based) with out all the caffeine and synephrine or ephedrine that would be more stimulating but not cause a huge crash.

I have a post in cognitive enhancers on nootropics for this reason and am looking for an energy, depression, anxiety stack. Take a look at it, if you will.

BTW I think I just answered my own question as per above.

Thanks Flex

Interesting, why easily digestible carbs before? What exactly do you consider easily digestible (high GI?)? You may want to try to eat lower GI carbs prior to workouts, to even out your blood sugar, and high GI immediately after workouts. Fruit tends to be very moderate as far as GI is concerned due to the high fiber content. I suspect your blood sugar is very irregular, especially considering the stimulants you mentioned.

Yeah thats about what I do, I stick to the lower GI prior and higher gi after...I think its the stim cocktails

I have had similar experiences with exercise. I love it but if I have one day off of exercise, the next day I crash. Consequently I have tried to stay away from it and stick to walking. Shame really.

Hypothesis- soft bipolarity. There is exercise induced low grade hypomania which is maintained by very short acting neurotransmitters ( not going to comment on whether they are endorphin based or not, there is a lot of myth about why exercise causes feelings of well-being).

Anyway, these exercise induced neurotransmitters are rapidly metabolised and wallop depression walks in.

Whatever seems to be stabilizing mood is missing or weak and the brain gets overwhelmed by the loss of the exercise induced hormones.


So the key here is an unstable mood-i.e bipolarity



like i said though its just a theory . i would be very grateful if anyone else could shed some light on this

I like that theory, obviously is there is an imbalance in something here, but it does not help that I use stims prior to exercise, I have found a little green tea (actual tea) and 4g tyrosine with 10mg vinpocitine to work well without too much crash but at this point it is still in the works...The ones that make me worse off are the adrenergics like ephedra and pseuydo,syneophrine also octopamine, and DMAE make me feel weepy how might these factor into the equation?[b]