Most people treat depression like a light switch. You're either depressed or you're not. That's not how it works, and the cycling podcast this week is Anthony's attempt to actually explain why.
Key Takeaways
The internet loves to split people into two camps — depressed or fine. Anthony's been asked about this in his DMs enough times that he wanted to have a proper go at it. His take is that everyone is somewhere on a continuum, from mildly stressed about a work deadline to genuinely in a dark place, and that where you sit on that continuum shifts day to day. The divide that actually matters is between genotype depression, the hereditary version baked into your DNA, and phenotype depression, the version that's driven by environment. The first one needs clinical help. The second one is where lifestyle changes can actually move things.
Here's what the evidence does support, regardless of where you fall. Sunlight on your skin is controlling over 500 on-off genetic switches every single day. Anthony had stretches during lockdown, same as a lot of people, where he noticed his own mood shifting when he stopped getting outside. Getting barefoot, getting into water, getting sun on your body — scientists can't always tell you exactly which of those 500 switches they're flipping, but there's very little disagreement that it matters. Same goes for food. Gut bacteria affects memory, recall, and mood. The extra few pounds from drinking and eating badly is the visible part. The mood hit is the part most people don't connect back to it. None of this is going to eradicate chronic depression at the far end of the continuum. But it will move you forward along it a bit. That's the honest version of what lifestyle changes can do.
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If low mood is part of why your training has gone flat, the why you're always tired episode is worth your time. And if 2020 knocked your motivation sideways in ways you're still working through, the 2020 reflection episode covers some of the same ground.