Tens of millions of Americans struggle with their mental health; about 30 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for depression, and twice as many for anxiety. There is, however, a simple activity that can help combat stress and anxiety while offering physical benefits: running.
In Running Is My Therapy, bestselling author Scott Douglas combines science, anecdote, and expert advice to show how running can reduce depression, fight anxiety, and boost the mind. The book does not promise a simple cure-all; rather, Douglas candidly and specifically lays out how running has helped him and others fight depression and anxiety, all the while giving tips to help readers do the same.
In the following interview, Douglas shares his experience and how running might be the right choice for many.
Q: Why did you write a book about mental health and running? How do you think others can benefit from this book?
Scott Douglas: I know there are a lot of people who run to manage their mental health. Yet there’s never been a book that explores why that works and what it’s like written from the inside, from someone living that life. I wanted to give my fellow runners something that would strengthen their belief in and knowledge of what they feel instinctively, that they should value running as a key part of their mental health.
Q: Why does running put people in a better mood?
SD: Most people will say endorphins. It and other brain chemicals that are released when you run, such as endocannabinoids, certainly help. But there are other bodily changes, such as reduced muscle tension and increased blood flow to the brain, that contribute to the feel-better effect. And there’s the psychological aspect of seeing yourself set and accomplish a goal.
Q: Running’s effects on mood sounds as fleeting as the famous “runner’s high.” Can running really be considered a form of therapy for depression and anxiety?
SD: Yes. Especially for people with mild to moderate cases, aerobic exercise such as running has been found to be as effective as other common treatments, such as antidepressants, in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety over time.
Q: What kinds of runs are best for boosting mood and mental health?
SD: The most important part of this answer is that any run is better than no run. Most people find that a moderate-intensity run of more than 30 minutes, but not so long that it leads to exhaustion, hits the sweet spot of intensity/duration. Research backs most runners’ intuitive feelings that running in nature or parks adds an extra element of mood boost.
Q: Are there cumulative mental health benefits from running?
SD: There are, and that’s the most important thing I learned in writing this book. Regular running leads to the same brain changes that are thought to be behind the effectiveness of antidepressants—growth in the brain area known as the hippocampus, which is shrunken in people with depression, and neuroplasticity, which is the growth of and increased communication between brain cells.
Q: Is there something specific about running for bettering mental health, or will any form of exercise do?
SD: Any form of aerobic exercise can help, but running is the best (in my unbiased view!). For starters, you can do it almost anywhere—you don’t need special equipment or a facility or learning a technique. Also—and this is key—running is the easiest way to lock into and then sustain that moderate-intensity effort level that produces the feel-better effect. Also, there are indications that the foot strikes of running send nerve impulses directly from your feet to your brain; this is unique to running.
Q: Isn’t it possible for running to detract from your mental health?
SD: Yes, certainly people can become overly reliant to manage their mental health. Two big signs that this might be the case: First, you run and run and run, but still find your relationships, work, etc. suffering because of your mental health. Second, you keep running despite injury because you fear your mental state will plummet without running. Both situations merit evaluating your overall approach to managing your mental health, to see what other means of support you need so that you can keep your running in perspective.
Q: Your book talks a lot about the intersection of running and other forms of treatment for depression and anxiety. What’s your point in doing so, and what are some examples?
SD: There are elements of being a regular runner that intersect with several common treatments for mental health issues, such as cognitive behavior therapy and talk therapy. Runners benefit from this phenomenon in two ways: First, by running providing a regular means to practice these treatments. Second, by making success with these treatments more likely, given the experience with them that running naturally provides.
Q: You write that exercise is a first-line treatment for depression and anxiety in other countries, meaning that it’s among the first things a clinician will recommend. Why isn’t that the case in the United States?
SD: The U.S. health care system is notorious for being pill- and procedure-reliant. Most doctors are in the business of treating illness and injury, not promoting health. So there’s a built-in resistance to viewing exercise as medicine. Hopefully this will change as evidence mounts for exercise’s effectiveness in treating mental health problems.
Q: You write that you’ve had depression since you were a teen. What has been the role of running in managing your own mental health?
SD: On a daily basis, running helps gird me by improving my mood, energizing me, enlarging my social connections (through running with others), and reminding me that I can set and attain goals in other parts of my life the same way I do in running. Over the long term, these daily hits compound with interest to improve the underlying fabric of my life. Also, there’s the long-term structural improvement to my brain, similar to what antidepressants do, discussed above.
Q: What advice do you have for those who would like to try running as a form of therapy, but are reluctant or intimidated? What is a good way to get started?
SD: There are many excellent resources for beginning runners; Pete Magill’s book The Born Again Runner is one. The same principles of gradual increasing distance and intensity apply to all beginners, regardless of their motivation. That said, new runners who are motivated primarily by mental-health reasons might have an advantage over other new runners, because they already have a personally meaningful reason to run (as opposed to people who feel they “should” be running). Within a month of regular running, most beginners should start to notice mental-health benefits.
Q: It seems so many adults take up running with specific goals in mind: run a 5k, run a marathon, etc. Do you think goal-setting plays a role in the mental health benefits of running?
SD: Setting and reaching personally meaningful goals is huge in managing depression and anxiety. Doing so changes the narrative that your actions don’t matter, that things are never going to improve, and similar negative thoughts. Running provides a small-scale daily way to see yourself accomplish something worthwhile. Longer-term, working toward a goal like finishing a race or being able to run a certain distance gives meaning to each day’s activities.
Q: You spoke to many different runners in writing this book—were there any experiences that stood out to you? Any perspectives that altered how you approached your own running practice?
SD: I was most struck by the stories of people who started running later in life, perhaps not even to help their mental health, and who then felt a profound change once they became regular runners. As someone who started in his teens and never stopped, I’m awed by people who make the leap from a typical sedentary adult to a regular runner. Hearing others’ stories more bolstered than changed my approach to my own running—I’m now that much more appreciative of the many, many ways that running has enriched my life these past four decades.
Q: You also spoke to many experts in writing this book, was there anything you were surprised to learn? What do you think skeptics would be most surprised by?
SD: One of the main things I wanted to learn was whether running to improve mental health has a cumulative effect. That is, is my mental-health set point raised by being a regular runner, or does running help solely in an acute manner, from daily hits of feel-good chemicals? I was heartened by the repeated response from experts that running causes structural changes in the brain that are similar to those caused by antidepressants. That is a crucial piece of knowledge that seems mostly unknown by non-experts.
Q: Many people think of running as a solo activity, but you discuss the relationship between running and talk therapy in this book—can you briefly explain their intersection?
SD: Most runners have experienced how easily conversation flows on a run. My book offers a few theories on why that is. What’s interesting is that these conversations are often the in-depth, intimate, insightful talks that are the goal of talk therapy. As one running therapist put it, these talks might not strictly qualify as therapy, but they’re certainly therapeutic. Runners are fortunate to have a built-in way to have these meaningful conversations every time we run with others.
