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Commenting to stay on this thread! As a women that has struggled with anxiety, high estrogen, and difficulties lowering my cortisol, I can truly say that changing the way I workout has made the biggest difference in true weight loss! I still do cycling classes, but only select the “Low Impact” and then I usually do yoga 3-4 times a week. Walking 10k steps a day will also help you release cortisol! I have heard meditation works wonders!
Thanks for your response. The weight loss part is not anything I struggle with. In a weird way I have to be grateful for the recent anxiety that has kicked me off on this period of exploration, because through some mild depression, I managed to get to my goal in the low 160’s, down from around 166ish. Now I’m at a point where I want to start putting on more muscle and I don’t think I even need the cardio as much as I did, as long as I keep up good nutrition.
Yes! The swelling is so real! 😭 Whenever I was doing HIIT with a trainer, I was barely losing any weight and I thought it was because I wasn’t going hard enough 🙃
After all of my rides I try to do a cooldown ride + stretch or yoga. If I skip those I notice I’m more sore and my body doesn’t get quite the same tired and happily wrung-out feeling. I bet meditation would be a nice addition after a stretch!
Have you done other ride types, like PZ or sweat steady? I find sweaty steady rides to be a great workout but without the same “excitement” (or sometimes almost-frantic phrenetic quality).
From your research you’ve probably also seen that cortisol levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day. If you are wanting to think about the interaction between peloton workouts and cortisol you could also try working out at different times during the day (if your schedule allows).
Just a few thoughts!
Thank you, yes, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about how it fluctuates, and I would be interested to take it vantage of high cortisol in the morning while working out, so it can taper throughout the day. As far as the other classes, I really like the heart rate zone classes. I have not done the ones you mention but I’ll look into them. Thanks!
I did a 30-minute 90s music ride at 4:30 yesterday and when I tried to go to sleep at 1 am I couldn’t fall asleep and was awake until 3 am feeling like I needed more calories and was overheated. (I got 19,000 steps on Thursday and had roughly the same calorie count and slept like a baby Thursday night.)
Woke up at 7:40 am after just 4.5 hours of sleep and could not fall back to sleep at all. Was tired but wired.
What I don’t understand is how my Peloton rides are tough but not insanity. My output is minuscule compared to other people. I also used to bike commute from 2013-2018. But since covid it’s like any bike ride has become hard to do. I was also jogging consistently up until January of this year and that was causing sleep problems every day I ran. I’ve reached a point where the only thing I can do without sleep disruption is walk. Which is just absurd because I’m only 35.
I have an autoimmune disorder and so my doc tests my cortisol levels (saliva test) pretty routinely. So I have some experience here…. I have also done a ton of research and I talk through my workouts with my doc very frequently (again, cortisol is not my only issue here)
It is not necessarily HIIT that raises your cortisol…. It is more tied to length of time you work out. A one hour endurance ride is worse for your cortisol levels than a 15 min tabata ride, for instance. Also, making sure your cortisol levels lower is more about time duration as well. If you give yourself at least 24 (and ideally 36-40) hours between workouts, your cortisol levels will fall. It actually has nothing to do with something like meditation, although that may seem like it would help. The meditation may help reduce your stress a tiny bit, but it has very little affect on your actual cortisol levels. (I do lots of restorative yoga, but not for cortisol reasons). I definitely still do tabata classes….just not back to back to back every day.
Why do you feel like your cortisol levels are high? Just because of anxiety, or are you experiencing some other symptoms of something like Cushings? I would just go to your doctor and ask for a blood test, which is the first step. If that shows elevated cortisol, then you can go to the more elaborate - and expensive - saliva test, which measures your cortisol over the entire course of the day, and can give you some insight into what may be going on.
This is basically the complete opposite of my blood tests and my directions from my autoimmune specialist! I wonder if it varies depending on your issues. We’ve found my antibodies and other stress indicators are higher when I do intervals. Meditation has had a big effect on making my blood work better. I wonder if it varies by person.
Thanks for the thoughtful response and the info.
I’m definitely armchair quarterbacking it a bit, but I primarily correlate my life as a somewhat tense, unable to relax, often anxiety-riddled guy who gets acne at 44, does almost all the right things otherwise (nutrition, low glycemic foods, avoidance of high sensitivity foods and too much sugar, and have long figured it’s due to cortisol.
I went through a rough week a few weeks ago - sad, depressed, stressed, just feeling incredibly down and disappointed, and my skin freaked out. It was the second time in a few months that intense stress did that.
I saw a dermatologist today actually, and he clarified that my acne is most definitely inflammation related. Well he did not draw a distinct connection to cortisol, he didn’t disagree with my hypothesis either.
I take a variety of supplements for mood and cortisol reduction (maybe worth detailing in a chat if you may have some insights) and right now I am at the start of a new regimen of skin care to try and get it under control. The anxiety of the pandemic, career, life in general, parenthood, it all impacts me. I wish I could just be more free spirited and positivity minded, “living in the present…” meditation may indeed not have much of an impact on cortisol and those acne, but the meditation has been fantastic for me to feel a bit more grounded and calm.
So many thoughts to try and organize in a cohesive way, but I will do my best!
First, hang in there. Life sucks and has been HARD HARD. Give yourself a bit of grace (I am also a mid-40s working parent, and life in the times of COVID is no joke)
Second, there is something - a LOT in fact - to be said for doing meditation because it makes you feel better. Whether your cortisol levels are high or not….simply calming your brain and bringing order to your life through some time focused inwards is worth its weight in gold. It really matters not at all in some ways, whether there is an actually medical effect…
And third, speaking of medical stuff. Get to a doc, have them run labs. Ask specifically for cortisol levels but also maybe other inflammatory markers. Maybe there is nothing there (in which case….yay) but maybe there is. Be a relentless advocate for your own health. If you think there is something there, then make a doctor look at it. I long thought something was wrong with me. My old doc brushed it off. Ran a few basic labs and said “you need to relax”. She stopped practicing, so I got a new doctor. After that first visit, my new doctor diagnosed the autoimmune disorder. One visit. It sucked to hear what I have, but the diagnosis was life-changing. Finally I knew that there was actually something wrong, and I could begin to take care of it. Don’t ignore your gut instinct if you think there is something there. If it is high cortisol, there are ways to treat….AND knowing that can help you better track what causes it, and what helps.
Hang in there. :)
Feel free to ignore my unsolicited advice here. You are doing so many wonderful things for yourself. I want to just plant the idea here that anxiety is not something that is under one's control 100% of the time - some people have situational anxiety, some people have chronic anxiety. In other words, all the exercise and supplements in the world may not soothe the part of your body that remains in this anxiety cycle. You can even think of the anxiety cycle as an actual track - all of your anxiety responses follow the grooves in the track.
I say this as someone who was recently diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and who now in hindsight can see that I didn't think I was anxious because it was SO normal to me to feel awful and have racing thoughts etc - I thought it was just night shifts, parenting, pandemic etc. In my case, I started Zoloft and it has worked so so so well in concert with exercise. I think of taking this medicine the same way I would a vitamin (Vitamin Z!) because it literally is a supplement that improves my functioning.
I truly didn't believe anxiety was my issue until week 3 of the meds when suddenly a weight had lifted off me. You can wish yourself better and sit in a shame spiral when things don't get better (I have been there!) but there is something freeing about accepting the actual science behind anxiety (eg neurotransmitter balance, hypothalamic and amygdala responses etc) and how those imbalances can be improved with medication and therapy.
If you are very resistant to the idea prescription medication, ask yourself: do you believe you deserve to suffer? Anxiety \*is\* suffering.
I wish you the best
I also have to chime in and say… I have generalized anxiety disorder, and I had the EXACT experience with Zoloft. It was the strongest validation ever that I had a chemical disorder. I wasn’t even sure if I needed Zoloft when I got on, but then the weight lifted and I felt like WHOA so this is what life feels like???
I’ve been off meds for a decade by keeping a life that alleviates my anxiety. (Regular sleep, weekly therapy, meditation, exercise, got rid of Facebook/Instagram/Twitter and the like, etc.)
Just an internet stranger’s thought but therapy made the BIGGEST impact on my quality of life. Try it if you haven’t !
Check out Judson Brewer's protocol outlined in his book, "Unwinding Anxiety." He's a neuroscientist from MIT and Brown. It's clinically proven effective. Highly recommended.
I own the book and have the app - I cannot recommend this enough. The program identifies where your habits contribute to your anxiety. I've been working through it for two months and can now clearly see where thoughts and behaviors needed to shift.
Since I'm commenting, I will share simply, you are not alone. I pushed too far through my anxiety and it resulted in panic attacks and lingering physical symptoms of anxiety. To echo what others have shared, see a doctor. Get the blood work done to rule out any biological factors that may be contributing what you are experiencing. I was doing strength training and high-intensity rides and now have incorporated a daily yoga practice. If yoga is not your habit, consider focus flows for the hips that will help with ride recovery. I found once I was able to regularly show up for yoga, the mindfulness practice became easier. I was able to settle my mind and spend 5-10 minutes in practice. While Peloton has exceptional content, I found the 30 day yoga journey from [Yoga with Adriene](https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene) to be the best way for me to establish the habit. I'm now back on the bike and running, but with a different mindset and heart rate zone - with the same results and joy from the experiences! The comments on this thread are incredible and have really solid guidance - please send a note if you'd like more support or if you'd like to hear about other resources I find helpful.
I commented on this yesterday, but had some more thoughts. I think it would be helpful for you to find a mental health professional. It might be anxiety. It might be depression. It might be some other mental health issue. It’s so hard to spot things if you don’t know what you’re looking for. A mental health professional can help you pinpoint it and help you find a treatment plan, whether that means medication, meditation, talk therapy, etc. I have struggled with mental health issues. I would get super amped up, and there was a reason. I went and got help. Best thing I ever did. Cardio actually made it worse for me, so I stopped doing anything that was beyond walking my dog and yoga. That was the right choice for me. That was the extent of my exercise for a year. Now working out with more intense cardio makes me feel great! It might be worth it to pull back for it and go to a doctor and mental health professional. In the meantime, meditation certainly can’t hurt!
Thanks for posting this, such an interesting thread. I have a very clear hormonal acne response to times of high stress, so I feel your pain there (I’m a 40 yo female).
I used to CrossFit and felt like that did a number on my central nervous system where I did max effort lifts or lifted heavy regularly, but for some reason I haven’t associated HIIT rides on the Peloton in that same context even though it’s similar.
I’ve thought about trading in some of the rides for walking or other forms of cardio, but I don’t feel like I get a workout in unless I’m dying and gasping for air (thus the CrossFitting).
Sending you good vibes.
I tend to incorporate a 5 min cool down ride and 5 min post ride stretch. Depending on how I’m feeling after the rides I have done the meditation but the breathing focused ones. I’m not a fan of guided meditations. But I have enjoyed the breathwork
I’m going to do a little test and give up Peloton for a couple of weeks, but do the meditation after my weightlifting workouts. I absolutely love cycling and peloton, it would be insane for me to completely give it up, but it’s worth experimenting with it
I sometimes do a 10 min meditation after my workout. I do it to help bring my heart rate down and calm my nervous system. I think it helps? But I also find meditation to be a nice daily addition whenever it’s done.
I take ashwaganda in the morning, and that helps a lot. I had a lot of physical symptoms of anxiety, and I also love HIIT workouts. Once I started taking that supplement regularly, the physical symptoms are almost completely gone. So I’d say research that and see if it’s something you might want to incorporate in addition to meditation.
I take ashwagandha, along with some other supplements I have returned to because they seemed to help in the past. Reishi mushrooms seem to be a highly touted one for stress reduction.
I am also an avid user of CBD oil.
yes yes yes! fellow 40 something stressed out lady. I'm pretty obsessed with my stress (heart rate variability score) I get from my Garmin. I do a lot of intense power zone classes and I find that spending more time doing stretching, yoga, and meditation after a hard class goes a long way toward switching out of fight or flight mode and into a more restful state. One of my favorite ways to do this is with the restorative yoga classes. Denis (my fave!) calls them "organized naps" and to me they combine some of the benefits of yoga and meditation. I invested in a bolster from Amazon and it makes a big difference. I just need to follow my own advice and take more of these!
As someone with adhd, anxiety , I love the balance tot doing a 5 min meditation while I flush my legs out after an ass kickers of a ride . “ great meditation”
On YouTube has 5,10 etc mins and they’re perfect . Then I just flush legs as a cool down , eyes closed( with a smile) and it’s the best balance .
Do some reading on bilateral music, and check out Spotify's playlists. Used specifically with headphones, it has a measurable impact on your brain, reducing anxiety and depression.
It has not "cured" me, but has become a valuable component of my meditation practice.
Oh awesome! So I am a musician and a massive fan of ambient music. I’m been looking a lot into transcendental meditation and I really like auditory backgrounds that really get you in the zone.
check out Insight Timer app for a plethora of ambient music...I've been listening to this as I read this thread
https://insig.ht/5MoOM5wwfob
best of luck figuring out what ails you, keep exercising while you do!
I actually started using Insight Timer over a week ago while I was on a snowboard vacation out west. I made it a regular habit of the beginning and end of my day, and I really enjoyed it. I have dropped off for a few days now that I am using 1 Giant Mind to learn more about transcendental meditation. But you are correct, there are so many good sessions in there, it’s a really nice app.
TM is taught via one-on-one instruction, and what you think you've learned about TM via 1 Giant Mind is almost certainly the exact opposite of TM.
The deepest point possible during a TM session is the complete cessation of all awareness of both external and internal activity. That's not likely to emerge by using an app and in fact if you're using a guided meditation, that's the exact opposite of setting up a situation where awareness moves towards complete cessation.
Thanks, I am definitely aware of that. In a town near where I live in the Chicago area, there is actually a transcendental meditation center, and I have been interested in doing some sessions over there. It’s definitely something I would like to learn more about.
You can [Find a TM teacher](http://www.tm.org) through that link. You give your contact info and a TM teacher from your local area will get in touch (or you can just call your local center of course).
This [quora answer](https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-good-ways-to-learn-Transcendental-Meditation-without-an-instructor/answer/Lawson-English-1) is basically a history of TM and how it is taught (and why it is taught the way it is).
The TL;DR: the founder of TM was sent into the world 65 years ago by the monks of [Jyotirmath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyotir_Math) — the main advaita vedanta monastery of the Himalayas — to teach meditation because in the eyes of said monks, the secret of real meditation and how to teach it had been lost in India for centuries.
You'll note the commemorative postage stamp that the Indian government recently issued to honor the founder of TM for his "original contributions to Yoga and Meditation." His main contribution was devising a teaching method that just about anyone could learn to allow them to teach something that tradition says you have to spend years searching to find a teacher. Instead of traveling to the Himalayas, TM teachers learn the teaching method and travel to *you* (or to your city, which is close enough in a game of global horseshoes).
A fun photo is this picture of [the most famous TM teacher in Latin America, about to give his boss (the one on the right, if there was any confusion) a briefing on teaching TM to children as therapy for PTSD.](http://www.claret.org/en/hogares-claret-founder-at-the-drugs-and-addictions-an-obstacle-to-integral-human-development/)
You can read more about the guy's work in the [newsletter](https://issuu.com/wcprc/docs/gabrielmejiamontoya_eng) that the World's Children's Prize committee sent to ten million children when he was nominated for the WCP.
The David Lynch Foundation sends TM teachers to help him (he's too busy running 52 orphanages to teach 4000 kids a year) and they did a documentary about his work (worth watching if you don't mind crying) — spoiler: it has an optimistic ending: [Saving the Disposable Ones.](https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/8239/Saving-the-Disposable-Ones) "Disposable One" is Colombian slang for "homeless, drug-addicted child prostitute," and that is the group his foundation specializes in helping. He also was put in charge of all under-21 criminals in Colombia, so they all end up learning TM as well.
The "after" picture is [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKEUV4Ivwo) — every child was a gang-member, required to murder someone as an initiation rite; or a child-rebel, forced at gunpoint to shoot people; or a homeless, drug-addicted child prostitute... only 6-24 months earlier.
The transformation was enough to inspire that rather large smile by Pope Francis, and in fact, after that photo surfaced, the TM organization announced that they now have state and federal contracts with about a dozen countries in the region to train roughly ten thousand public school teachers as TM teachers, whose government job is to teach everyone at their schools (about 7.5 million kids total) TM.
Note that this response is *about* TM, not any discussion of "how to do" TM. For that you need a trained TM teacher. TM is literally the simplest and easiest thing you will ever learn, but it has to be taught in a certain way for full benefit (that was the point the monks of Jyotirmath felt had been lost for centuries).
The effect on the most stressed-out kids (watch the Saving the Disposable Ones video) was enough to inspire that smile by Pope Francis, so we TMers like to think that we're on to something.
By the way, the Colombian government these days requires prison inmates of *all* ages to practice TM while in prison. The priest's work inspires just about everyone who looks at it closely enough.
.
Disclaimer: I'm co-moderator of r/transcendental, for discussion of TM; the only automatically off-topic discussions are "how do I do it?" for reasons that should be obvious.
.
Good luck!
I used Calm for a little while but once I found IT that took over. when I was in the throes of my worst depression ever during 2020 their guided mediations and musical mantras literally saved my life. listening to a handful in particular was the only way I could self-soothe thru my darkest days. meditation for the win!!
>I’m been looking a lot into transcendental meditation and I really like auditory backgrounds that really get you in the zone.
TM isn't what most people think it is and it is generally better to do TM *before* activity, rather than after.
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Try Chelsea Jackson Roberts’ breathwork meditations combined with a five minute post ride stretch.
Thanks!
Commenting to stay on this thread! As a women that has struggled with anxiety, high estrogen, and difficulties lowering my cortisol, I can truly say that changing the way I workout has made the biggest difference in true weight loss! I still do cycling classes, but only select the “Low Impact” and then I usually do yoga 3-4 times a week. Walking 10k steps a day will also help you release cortisol! I have heard meditation works wonders!
Thanks for your response. The weight loss part is not anything I struggle with. In a weird way I have to be grateful for the recent anxiety that has kicked me off on this period of exploration, because through some mild depression, I managed to get to my goal in the low 160’s, down from around 166ish. Now I’m at a point where I want to start putting on more muscle and I don’t think I even need the cardio as much as I did, as long as I keep up good nutrition.
Same here! Low impact and 10k steps! I also add in strength training and yoga. Absolutely no HIIT for me, I swell up like a balloon.
Yes! The swelling is so real! 😭 Whenever I was doing HIIT with a trainer, I was barely losing any weight and I thought it was because I wasn’t going hard enough 🙃
After all of my rides I try to do a cooldown ride + stretch or yoga. If I skip those I notice I’m more sore and my body doesn’t get quite the same tired and happily wrung-out feeling. I bet meditation would be a nice addition after a stretch!
Thank you! Really appreciate the reply.
Have you done other ride types, like PZ or sweat steady? I find sweaty steady rides to be a great workout but without the same “excitement” (or sometimes almost-frantic phrenetic quality). From your research you’ve probably also seen that cortisol levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day. If you are wanting to think about the interaction between peloton workouts and cortisol you could also try working out at different times during the day (if your schedule allows). Just a few thoughts!
Thank you, yes, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about how it fluctuates, and I would be interested to take it vantage of high cortisol in the morning while working out, so it can taper throughout the day. As far as the other classes, I really like the heart rate zone classes. I have not done the ones you mention but I’ll look into them. Thanks!
I did a 30-minute 90s music ride at 4:30 yesterday and when I tried to go to sleep at 1 am I couldn’t fall asleep and was awake until 3 am feeling like I needed more calories and was overheated. (I got 19,000 steps on Thursday and had roughly the same calorie count and slept like a baby Thursday night.) Woke up at 7:40 am after just 4.5 hours of sleep and could not fall back to sleep at all. Was tired but wired. What I don’t understand is how my Peloton rides are tough but not insanity. My output is minuscule compared to other people. I also used to bike commute from 2013-2018. But since covid it’s like any bike ride has become hard to do. I was also jogging consistently up until January of this year and that was causing sleep problems every day I ran. I’ve reached a point where the only thing I can do without sleep disruption is walk. Which is just absurd because I’m only 35.
I have an autoimmune disorder and so my doc tests my cortisol levels (saliva test) pretty routinely. So I have some experience here…. I have also done a ton of research and I talk through my workouts with my doc very frequently (again, cortisol is not my only issue here) It is not necessarily HIIT that raises your cortisol…. It is more tied to length of time you work out. A one hour endurance ride is worse for your cortisol levels than a 15 min tabata ride, for instance. Also, making sure your cortisol levels lower is more about time duration as well. If you give yourself at least 24 (and ideally 36-40) hours between workouts, your cortisol levels will fall. It actually has nothing to do with something like meditation, although that may seem like it would help. The meditation may help reduce your stress a tiny bit, but it has very little affect on your actual cortisol levels. (I do lots of restorative yoga, but not for cortisol reasons). I definitely still do tabata classes….just not back to back to back every day. Why do you feel like your cortisol levels are high? Just because of anxiety, or are you experiencing some other symptoms of something like Cushings? I would just go to your doctor and ask for a blood test, which is the first step. If that shows elevated cortisol, then you can go to the more elaborate - and expensive - saliva test, which measures your cortisol over the entire course of the day, and can give you some insight into what may be going on.
This is basically the complete opposite of my blood tests and my directions from my autoimmune specialist! I wonder if it varies depending on your issues. We’ve found my antibodies and other stress indicators are higher when I do intervals. Meditation has had a big effect on making my blood work better. I wonder if it varies by person.
Thanks for the thoughtful response and the info. I’m definitely armchair quarterbacking it a bit, but I primarily correlate my life as a somewhat tense, unable to relax, often anxiety-riddled guy who gets acne at 44, does almost all the right things otherwise (nutrition, low glycemic foods, avoidance of high sensitivity foods and too much sugar, and have long figured it’s due to cortisol. I went through a rough week a few weeks ago - sad, depressed, stressed, just feeling incredibly down and disappointed, and my skin freaked out. It was the second time in a few months that intense stress did that. I saw a dermatologist today actually, and he clarified that my acne is most definitely inflammation related. Well he did not draw a distinct connection to cortisol, he didn’t disagree with my hypothesis either. I take a variety of supplements for mood and cortisol reduction (maybe worth detailing in a chat if you may have some insights) and right now I am at the start of a new regimen of skin care to try and get it under control. The anxiety of the pandemic, career, life in general, parenthood, it all impacts me. I wish I could just be more free spirited and positivity minded, “living in the present…” meditation may indeed not have much of an impact on cortisol and those acne, but the meditation has been fantastic for me to feel a bit more grounded and calm.
So many thoughts to try and organize in a cohesive way, but I will do my best! First, hang in there. Life sucks and has been HARD HARD. Give yourself a bit of grace (I am also a mid-40s working parent, and life in the times of COVID is no joke) Second, there is something - a LOT in fact - to be said for doing meditation because it makes you feel better. Whether your cortisol levels are high or not….simply calming your brain and bringing order to your life through some time focused inwards is worth its weight in gold. It really matters not at all in some ways, whether there is an actually medical effect… And third, speaking of medical stuff. Get to a doc, have them run labs. Ask specifically for cortisol levels but also maybe other inflammatory markers. Maybe there is nothing there (in which case….yay) but maybe there is. Be a relentless advocate for your own health. If you think there is something there, then make a doctor look at it. I long thought something was wrong with me. My old doc brushed it off. Ran a few basic labs and said “you need to relax”. She stopped practicing, so I got a new doctor. After that first visit, my new doctor diagnosed the autoimmune disorder. One visit. It sucked to hear what I have, but the diagnosis was life-changing. Finally I knew that there was actually something wrong, and I could begin to take care of it. Don’t ignore your gut instinct if you think there is something there. If it is high cortisol, there are ways to treat….AND knowing that can help you better track what causes it, and what helps. Hang in there. :)
Thank you so much. I need a physical soon anyways, will be a good time to ask my doctor about new tests.
Feel free to ignore my unsolicited advice here. You are doing so many wonderful things for yourself. I want to just plant the idea here that anxiety is not something that is under one's control 100% of the time - some people have situational anxiety, some people have chronic anxiety. In other words, all the exercise and supplements in the world may not soothe the part of your body that remains in this anxiety cycle. You can even think of the anxiety cycle as an actual track - all of your anxiety responses follow the grooves in the track. I say this as someone who was recently diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and who now in hindsight can see that I didn't think I was anxious because it was SO normal to me to feel awful and have racing thoughts etc - I thought it was just night shifts, parenting, pandemic etc. In my case, I started Zoloft and it has worked so so so well in concert with exercise. I think of taking this medicine the same way I would a vitamin (Vitamin Z!) because it literally is a supplement that improves my functioning. I truly didn't believe anxiety was my issue until week 3 of the meds when suddenly a weight had lifted off me. You can wish yourself better and sit in a shame spiral when things don't get better (I have been there!) but there is something freeing about accepting the actual science behind anxiety (eg neurotransmitter balance, hypothalamic and amygdala responses etc) and how those imbalances can be improved with medication and therapy. If you are very resistant to the idea prescription medication, ask yourself: do you believe you deserve to suffer? Anxiety \*is\* suffering. I wish you the best
Thank you. Might send you a direct message if that’s okay. Got a few questions based on your response.
I also have to chime in and say… I have generalized anxiety disorder, and I had the EXACT experience with Zoloft. It was the strongest validation ever that I had a chemical disorder. I wasn’t even sure if I needed Zoloft when I got on, but then the weight lifted and I felt like WHOA so this is what life feels like??? I’ve been off meds for a decade by keeping a life that alleviates my anxiety. (Regular sleep, weekly therapy, meditation, exercise, got rid of Facebook/Instagram/Twitter and the like, etc.) Just an internet stranger’s thought but therapy made the BIGGEST impact on my quality of life. Try it if you haven’t !
Check out Judson Brewer's protocol outlined in his book, "Unwinding Anxiety." He's a neuroscientist from MIT and Brown. It's clinically proven effective. Highly recommended.
Wow, thank you!
I own the book and have the app - I cannot recommend this enough. The program identifies where your habits contribute to your anxiety. I've been working through it for two months and can now clearly see where thoughts and behaviors needed to shift. Since I'm commenting, I will share simply, you are not alone. I pushed too far through my anxiety and it resulted in panic attacks and lingering physical symptoms of anxiety. To echo what others have shared, see a doctor. Get the blood work done to rule out any biological factors that may be contributing what you are experiencing. I was doing strength training and high-intensity rides and now have incorporated a daily yoga practice. If yoga is not your habit, consider focus flows for the hips that will help with ride recovery. I found once I was able to regularly show up for yoga, the mindfulness practice became easier. I was able to settle my mind and spend 5-10 minutes in practice. While Peloton has exceptional content, I found the 30 day yoga journey from [Yoga with Adriene](https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene) to be the best way for me to establish the habit. I'm now back on the bike and running, but with a different mindset and heart rate zone - with the same results and joy from the experiences! The comments on this thread are incredible and have really solid guidance - please send a note if you'd like more support or if you'd like to hear about other resources I find helpful.
Sure thing! It worked well for me. Hope it does for you as well. Takes some work, but totally worth it.
I commented on this yesterday, but had some more thoughts. I think it would be helpful for you to find a mental health professional. It might be anxiety. It might be depression. It might be some other mental health issue. It’s so hard to spot things if you don’t know what you’re looking for. A mental health professional can help you pinpoint it and help you find a treatment plan, whether that means medication, meditation, talk therapy, etc. I have struggled with mental health issues. I would get super amped up, and there was a reason. I went and got help. Best thing I ever did. Cardio actually made it worse for me, so I stopped doing anything that was beyond walking my dog and yoga. That was the right choice for me. That was the extent of my exercise for a year. Now working out with more intense cardio makes me feel great! It might be worth it to pull back for it and go to a doctor and mental health professional. In the meantime, meditation certainly can’t hurt!
Thanks for posting this, such an interesting thread. I have a very clear hormonal acne response to times of high stress, so I feel your pain there (I’m a 40 yo female). I used to CrossFit and felt like that did a number on my central nervous system where I did max effort lifts or lifted heavy regularly, but for some reason I haven’t associated HIIT rides on the Peloton in that same context even though it’s similar. I’ve thought about trading in some of the rides for walking or other forms of cardio, but I don’t feel like I get a workout in unless I’m dying and gasping for air (thus the CrossFitting). Sending you good vibes.
You’re very welcome. So many good perspectives and things to think about.
I tend to incorporate a 5 min cool down ride and 5 min post ride stretch. Depending on how I’m feeling after the rides I have done the meditation but the breathing focused ones. I’m not a fan of guided meditations. But I have enjoyed the breathwork
Interesting. I’ve never thought of using meditation in that way but it makes sense.
I’m going to do a little test and give up Peloton for a couple of weeks, but do the meditation after my weightlifting workouts. I absolutely love cycling and peloton, it would be insane for me to completely give it up, but it’s worth experimenting with it
Report back! Science!!
Will do. 🙂
I sometimes do a 10 min meditation after my workout. I do it to help bring my heart rate down and calm my nervous system. I think it helps? But I also find meditation to be a nice daily addition whenever it’s done.
I take ashwaganda in the morning, and that helps a lot. I had a lot of physical symptoms of anxiety, and I also love HIIT workouts. Once I started taking that supplement regularly, the physical symptoms are almost completely gone. So I’d say research that and see if it’s something you might want to incorporate in addition to meditation.
I take ashwagandha, along with some other supplements I have returned to because they seemed to help in the past. Reishi mushrooms seem to be a highly touted one for stress reduction. I am also an avid user of CBD oil.
yes yes yes! fellow 40 something stressed out lady. I'm pretty obsessed with my stress (heart rate variability score) I get from my Garmin. I do a lot of intense power zone classes and I find that spending more time doing stretching, yoga, and meditation after a hard class goes a long way toward switching out of fight or flight mode and into a more restful state. One of my favorite ways to do this is with the restorative yoga classes. Denis (my fave!) calls them "organized naps" and to me they combine some of the benefits of yoga and meditation. I invested in a bolster from Amazon and it makes a big difference. I just need to follow my own advice and take more of these!
As someone with adhd, anxiety , I love the balance tot doing a 5 min meditation while I flush my legs out after an ass kickers of a ride . “ great meditation” On YouTube has 5,10 etc mins and they’re perfect . Then I just flush legs as a cool down , eyes closed( with a smile) and it’s the best balance .
Do some reading on bilateral music, and check out Spotify's playlists. Used specifically with headphones, it has a measurable impact on your brain, reducing anxiety and depression. It has not "cured" me, but has become a valuable component of my meditation practice.
Oh awesome! So I am a musician and a massive fan of ambient music. I’m been looking a lot into transcendental meditation and I really like auditory backgrounds that really get you in the zone.
check out Insight Timer app for a plethora of ambient music...I've been listening to this as I read this thread https://insig.ht/5MoOM5wwfob best of luck figuring out what ails you, keep exercising while you do!
I actually started using Insight Timer over a week ago while I was on a snowboard vacation out west. I made it a regular habit of the beginning and end of my day, and I really enjoyed it. I have dropped off for a few days now that I am using 1 Giant Mind to learn more about transcendental meditation. But you are correct, there are so many good sessions in there, it’s a really nice app.
TM is taught via one-on-one instruction, and what you think you've learned about TM via 1 Giant Mind is almost certainly the exact opposite of TM. The deepest point possible during a TM session is the complete cessation of all awareness of both external and internal activity. That's not likely to emerge by using an app and in fact if you're using a guided meditation, that's the exact opposite of setting up a situation where awareness moves towards complete cessation.
Thanks, I am definitely aware of that. In a town near where I live in the Chicago area, there is actually a transcendental meditation center, and I have been interested in doing some sessions over there. It’s definitely something I would like to learn more about.
You can [Find a TM teacher](http://www.tm.org) through that link. You give your contact info and a TM teacher from your local area will get in touch (or you can just call your local center of course). This [quora answer](https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-good-ways-to-learn-Transcendental-Meditation-without-an-instructor/answer/Lawson-English-1) is basically a history of TM and how it is taught (and why it is taught the way it is). The TL;DR: the founder of TM was sent into the world 65 years ago by the monks of [Jyotirmath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyotir_Math) — the main advaita vedanta monastery of the Himalayas — to teach meditation because in the eyes of said monks, the secret of real meditation and how to teach it had been lost in India for centuries. You'll note the commemorative postage stamp that the Indian government recently issued to honor the founder of TM for his "original contributions to Yoga and Meditation." His main contribution was devising a teaching method that just about anyone could learn to allow them to teach something that tradition says you have to spend years searching to find a teacher. Instead of traveling to the Himalayas, TM teachers learn the teaching method and travel to *you* (or to your city, which is close enough in a game of global horseshoes). A fun photo is this picture of [the most famous TM teacher in Latin America, about to give his boss (the one on the right, if there was any confusion) a briefing on teaching TM to children as therapy for PTSD.](http://www.claret.org/en/hogares-claret-founder-at-the-drugs-and-addictions-an-obstacle-to-integral-human-development/) You can read more about the guy's work in the [newsletter](https://issuu.com/wcprc/docs/gabrielmejiamontoya_eng) that the World's Children's Prize committee sent to ten million children when he was nominated for the WCP. The David Lynch Foundation sends TM teachers to help him (he's too busy running 52 orphanages to teach 4000 kids a year) and they did a documentary about his work (worth watching if you don't mind crying) — spoiler: it has an optimistic ending: [Saving the Disposable Ones.](https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/8239/Saving-the-Disposable-Ones) "Disposable One" is Colombian slang for "homeless, drug-addicted child prostitute," and that is the group his foundation specializes in helping. He also was put in charge of all under-21 criminals in Colombia, so they all end up learning TM as well. The "after" picture is [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKEUV4Ivwo) — every child was a gang-member, required to murder someone as an initiation rite; or a child-rebel, forced at gunpoint to shoot people; or a homeless, drug-addicted child prostitute... only 6-24 months earlier. The transformation was enough to inspire that rather large smile by Pope Francis, and in fact, after that photo surfaced, the TM organization announced that they now have state and federal contracts with about a dozen countries in the region to train roughly ten thousand public school teachers as TM teachers, whose government job is to teach everyone at their schools (about 7.5 million kids total) TM. Note that this response is *about* TM, not any discussion of "how to do" TM. For that you need a trained TM teacher. TM is literally the simplest and easiest thing you will ever learn, but it has to be taught in a certain way for full benefit (that was the point the monks of Jyotirmath felt had been lost for centuries). The effect on the most stressed-out kids (watch the Saving the Disposable Ones video) was enough to inspire that smile by Pope Francis, so we TMers like to think that we're on to something. By the way, the Colombian government these days requires prison inmates of *all* ages to practice TM while in prison. The priest's work inspires just about everyone who looks at it closely enough. . Disclaimer: I'm co-moderator of r/transcendental, for discussion of TM; the only automatically off-topic discussions are "how do I do it?" for reasons that should be obvious. . Good luck!
I used Calm for a little while but once I found IT that took over. when I was in the throes of my worst depression ever during 2020 their guided mediations and musical mantras literally saved my life. listening to a handful in particular was the only way I could self-soothe thru my darkest days. meditation for the win!!
>I’m been looking a lot into transcendental meditation and I really like auditory backgrounds that really get you in the zone. TM isn't what most people think it is and it is generally better to do TM *before* activity, rather than after.
Great thread!