A recent research paper which reviewed studies analyzing the correlation between lifting and depression conclusively found that lifting weights helps lift spirits, mood, and change brain chemistry. Over 30 clinical trials including nearly 2,000 participants were reviewed for the research. Lifting weights was “associated with a significant reduction in depressive symptoms,” the article cites, especially for adults with particularly “elevated” symptoms. It is worth noting that researchers also discovered supervised workout sessions lead to greater gains than unsupervised workout sessions. The study was conducted by the University of Limerick in Ireland, Big Think reports.
Movement is in our very nature, the author suggests, when they explain that “An ability to move through our environment created the brains we have.” Going against the inherent nature of our humanity will always result in feeling depressed because we are directly denying ourselves the full potential of our being. “Movement makes us healthy,” the author writes. “When surrendering this birthright, of course we’ll feel depressed.”
Interestingly, the author makes an argument that a disconnect from nature may be less about the nature of the wilderness but our natural ability to be wild as men. “When people say we’re disconnected from nature, what they really mean is we no longer move our bodies,” the author illustrates. The author then poignantly asks, “…what meaning is possible without movement?”
In treatment for addiction, men learn that meaning has to take an important role in their recovery in order to sustainably adhere to abstinence based sobriety. Creating meaning in life helps create meaning outside of the meaning created by addiction. Men have to have a purpose, a reason for living, and the means to live within that purpose. The author is suggesting that at the core of every man, movement is meaning because movement is purpose for all of mankind. For this reason, the treatment program for men offered at Tree House Recovery in Portland, Oregon heavily focuses on physical fitness, regimented training programs, endurance building, adventuring, and weight lifting.
Returning men to their natural state as movers helps rebuild the connection between men, their bodies and their natural birthright as human beings. Addiction can take away all of a man’s strength in mind, body, and spirit. Treatment and recovery help a man regain every part of himself, build on it, and take himself further than he ever thought possible.
Everyday at Tree House Recovery, men are finding freedom from addiction. Our men’s treatment programs are designed to completely transform men’s lives, inside and out. Men create a lifestyle of sustainable recovery by creating a lifestyle of sustainable change and live limitless lives as a result. For more information, call: (503) 850-2474
