Running Is My Therapy: Relieve Stress and Anxiety, Fight Depression, and Live Happier

by Scott Douglas, Alison Mariella Désir (Foreword)

A lifelong runner’s groundbreaking guide to fighting depression and anxiety, one run at a time Everyone knows that running builds stronger muscles and a healthier heart. In Running Is My Therapy, longtime runner Scott Douglas shows how endurance running is also the best form of exercise to develop a healthier brain. A natural antidepressant, running reinforces the benefits of therapy and triggers lasting, positive physiological changes. In fact, some doctors now “prescribe” a running regimen as part of their first-line treatment plan for depression. Marshaling expert advice and a growing body of research, Douglas explains how we can all use running to improve mental health—and live happier.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2018

Reviews

[Guisel Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish ⭐️
This was written like someone’s dissertation and that’s fine but it was not what I was prepared for going into. I was looking for a casual read lol but there is a lot of good info with the cited research to look into or read more about.

[Claudia Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was an excellent and insightful read into how running can help manage anxiety and depression. For someone who doesn’t have either of these it still proved a way to use this book as a resource to manage running into your life to help with one’s mental health which is just as important as physical health.

[Benjamin Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a steady 3.75/5 - I did enjoy it quite a bit. I laughed at several places because Scott Douglass comes across as someone who would be quite intense to run and talk with but has a good sense of humour too.

I found some of the physiological breakdown of the 'runners high' fascinating. I mean, yea, I run and then I feel good, or I feel good while I'm running but having it laid out and explained as Scott does was engaging.

Some of the inspiration text in the book includes:

"In general, flow occurs when you believe you have the skills necessary to overcome a challenging situation. Your perception of time warps as your attention narrows to the task at hand. This attention is so sharply focussed on the task that all extraneous thoughts and anxieties disappear. Clear goals drive your actions while all internal and external feedback verifies that the goal is achievable. Despite feeling invincible, you are aloof to what others think of you as your self-consciousness recedes into the background. All that matters is mastering the moment."

If you know the feeling of being in flow and how good that feels then you'll appreciate the accuracy of the excerpt. I also really liked this bit of wisdom regarding alcohol:

"The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes. It is in the fact the great exciter of the Yes function in man. It is part of the deeper mystery and tragedy of life that whiffs and gleams of something that we immediately recognise as excellent should be vouchsafed to so many of us in the fleeting earlier phases of what in its totality is so degrading a poison."

So there you go. The long of short of the book is that running will definitely improve your mental health; you can enjoy a beer too but be careful about overdoing it. And the best way to use running to improve your mental health is to start running - 5 minutes is better than 0 minutes.

[Mike Courson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 18 of 2023 (audio)
Probably more like a 3.5/5 but I'll shade up because it seems to be quite well researched and there's a good chapter about alcohol at the end. Stephen Thorne is a solid reader. Had to check as I'm pretty sure he's read a few. He did Death in Yellowstone...great!

Not a runner but trying to get into it. I cover a lot of high school track and field and watch a lot of track and I admire the runner. Always been more a cyclist. Trying to cut down the drinking, I'm looking to exercise to do so. This book is far more technical than I would have liked....can't really relate to studies done, etc. So late in the book, Douglas kind of makes fun of himself by saying TMI about alcohol use. No, man! That was the best chapter in the book!!

Based on his times and mileage, Douglas is no joke of a runner. Put in some serious research for this book, and it's pretty interesting that people are doing the studies to find if activity, really running specifically, can fix some problems of the mind. In the end...I have no idea! As he states, there's just so many unknowns why certain drugs work, and so many variables on durations/exertion/levels of depression to make any real sense of it. Doesn't make the book any less, just means the human mind is a complex beast.

I've not dabbled in prescriptions because, like one of the people in the book, I don't want to mess with my chemistry. Douglas does a great job of destigmatizing the use of drugs, but also does a great job advocating for activity to at least supplement medication. So I cannot attest to how drugs and running would affect me. But I've listened to this book in short order while walking and cycling. Just tonight, a cool June night in Kansas, I decided to bike until I finished it. I realized halfway through I was really enjoying me time. Good ride, good weather, nice book in my ear. So I will continue that with an eye on running to see if I can't enjoy these things even more.

[Kate Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, if it’s what you’re after. Personally, I was hoping for more of a memoir and less of a listing of scientific evidence that supports how running is good for mental health. I’ll be honest, a lot of it bored me (keeping in mind it wasn’t what I wanted from the book) and I skipped through chunks of the text. I would say that the book is a smattering of personal memoir against a large pane of scientific evidence to support the running/positive mental health connection (though it does also speak about potentially going the other way if running becomes obsessive).

[Susan Butts · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't help me know how to enjoy the run but instead it would help if you had one of the conditions in the title. I don't so I couldn't relate to using running instead of medications.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The key to feeling better is the first step.

Interesting, motivating and insightful. Not groundbreaking but a nice quick read.

1:30:00

[Julie Baggenstos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with research but also loads of anecdotal evidence that left me inspired to prioritize exercise!!

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful, inspiring, educational, helpful to read about ppl who have overcome their mental health struggles

[Gloobyglob54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical and informative

[Belinda Boshell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helped me with my all or nothing approach. 20 mins is closer to 90 mins than zero minutes.