How to make movement depression-friendly

where the collective is failing the collective

Aug 05, 2025

Let’s have a conversation that, frankly, the collective should be afraid of not already having created an abundance of resources on. Movement is medicine, executive dysfunction is one of the single greatest invisible enemies I can think of that isn’t a disease. When we move, we change and we change positively. There is barely any research out there that claims exercise to be a bad idea. Sure, many studies will say high-intensity exercise or some other specific type of exercise is bad, but no study claims movement in general is bad. Even if you think about the PACE model for people with chronic fatigue, it doesn’t claim you shouldn’t move, but only move as much as possible in your own life and body’s framework. The fact that physical therapy is a core part of almost any recovery process speaks for itself.

So why then do we absolutely lack the resources to help people with depression move more? Sure, some of them exist, but the amount of resources and different POVs in the conversation do not match the sheer number of people globally who have depression in various personal and cultural contexts. Psychology 101 teaches us everything we need to know about motivation types, basic neuroplasticity and how we learn, yet nearly nobody sits down and writes or films themselves attempting to come up with systems that might work better than what we have for mentally healthy people for the depressed. We don’t want perfection, we want you to build the ideas in public so you can build them WITH the public.

And that is exactly what I will do in this article, because I’ve been in those depressive episodes and I do struggle with executive dysfunction due to ADHD, so I too want to come up with ways that might help people to move more. Yes, there are some tips for ADHDers for exercising, but they are often pretty much based on habit stacking and dopamine frameworks and that just doesn’t necessarily work for someone depressed, since people with depression need to use energy levels and how far they can push past their 100% of that day as a guiding light.

The quick fix

One thing that we have that already exists is “in bed workouts”, which have become more common on YouTube to include people with low mobility. Some of them are called “lazy” workouts, which, come on guys, the concept of laziness cannot be topped in its oversimplified lameness. These videos can be used to get back into a groove when a depressive episode is present. For someone with light or mid-range levels of depression, this might be something that can be facilitated by the interest in trying a new routine for getting better. That motivation can be a good jumpstart. For someone with deeper depression, it can be a bit harder to find a way to push through to do that kind of movement. In that mental space, you’d have to first figure out what is mentally holding you back, because you and I both know that even with low energy, you are technically able to push yourself through to move for seven minutes. While I’m not the biggest fan of telling people to dig deeper into their brains while depressed, this might be the exception. What are the thought patterns that are holding you back? What beliefs do you have about how your depression impacts movement? There is a big difference between holding yourself back and executive dysfunction holding you back. Learning that discernment alone will already help with depression in general, because you know when you can “push” your way through and when you can’t because the barrier isn’t your beliefs about your abilities. If you can push yourself to do one of those short in-bed workout videos, reinforce the positive of what you did by writing it down as an achievement or by doing something that even while depressed lifts the mood slightly (you know, the sciency stuff that you might not feel but will incrementally have an impact). As much as it will maybe make your eyes roll, science agrees with that reinforcement method. Don’t disregard the really simple stuff entirely.

The sloth approach

Okay, you might have read that last part and thought to yourself that I’m out of my mind (yes, thank you). You might be arguing that depression makes your energy so low that you cannot even move, other than going to the toilet most days. And, unless you have a disability that ties you to your bed, that is, as much as I hate to step on your feet, genuinely a limit that your depression makes you put on yourself. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks. I’m not saying it is easy. I’m not saying to willpower your way in and out of everything, but you have to acknowledge how depression impacts you to outsmart it. Depression is a constant loop of doubt and despair that colors your thoughts and beliefs. Of course you’ll believe that you have too little energy to move. Well, let us entertain that part of your depression that claims you aren’t capable of doing a 10-minute walk through the apartment because it would make you too tired (sure, but it would also increase your stamina slowly). You know what you could do even at your worst? Stretching. Start with stretching if you think you cannot do anything else. It doesn’t even have to be guided by a video, just stretch out your arms, legs and maybe side to side so your muscles won’t feel like they are sticking together as much. Try to do that every morning for five minutes, even if you don’t get anything else done. You cannot argue with the incremental positive that tiny habits like that can bring. The lack of instant results suck in depression, but they damn well exist if you approach with the “I don’t care that my depression makes me not care” perspective.

The science approach

I hate to say it, because not every psychology concept works on everyone, but you CAN actually condition yourself. I find that for me, that would take too much brain power during a depressive episode, but some people with depression have zero physical energy but still a lot of brain power to think about this. Operant conditioning might be able to help you, over time, to push past executive dysfunction when it comes to movement. It’s gonna feel dumb at the start, because you will have to essentially talk to yourself like a toddler, but if you currently have the life function skills of one, I think it’s fair to talk to yourself like a kid. If you are truly in the trenches, I want you to genuinely reinforce yourself positively whenever you sit up in bed. Genuinely, just tell yourself, “Hell yeah, another one.” If we use the daily stretching approach, you can also talk to yourself like that AND implement it with an app that gives you a virtual reward. When you’re that deep down, it’s okay to get the dopamine hit to help you progress (even if you can’t feel the dopamine hit much). Do not, I repeat, DO NOT rely on instant results of feeling better. That positive reinforcement is the thing to give yourself because you cannot count on your body to make you feel good whenever you move more. You also need to minimize punishment. I know that is hard because your brain is currently wired to throw shame at you for getting out of routine, but nothing fucks over a routine more than not trying again the next day. Slow and steady wins the race every single time. Meet that inner shame with a “what about it?” if the compassion approach doesn’t work.

Accountability systems

If you worked yourself up to a point where you can do either the 7-15min in bed workouts or some soft workout routine like yoga, it might be helpful to start implementing an accountability system (although it’s also helpful to do that with the smaller steps if you can find someone with the compassion you need during those really hard times). Accountability can be a simple as having a co-working online space you’re a part of that holds you accountable to log in once a day. I know these are a bit harder to find, but they truly are worth it. I find that a lot of them are very volunteer-based, which can make it harder to find a specific person to check in with. It really depends on how much you can hold yourself accountable as well. If you’re a person like that, it might be helpful to join the body doubling discord server, do daily Focusmate sessions or find a local group that goes on walks together. Unfortunately, a lot of the really good accountability spaces cost money because they group coach or are tied to online workout classes with fixed schedules to keep you reeled into the routine. As you can tell, we need better accessible accountability systems for people when it comes to working out that don’t cost money or cost very little (or the ones that already exist need to become more visible).

Experiment

I know curiosity can be hard to follow when you’re depressed, but I urge you to try some days. Try out movements you can do with relatively little energy, like a leg-up or a plank in bed. Try three squats after you went to the toilet. Try to dance or shake your ass even if you don’t feel like it at all. Try that dumb sounding advice from neuroscience that tells you to fake a smile to create neurotransmitters that make you feel better. A lot of living with lifelong depression and recovering from episodic depression is literally just trial and error and not giving up on experimenting with things. I’ll have you know that I struggled a lot between 2013 and 2023 and in that time I’ve tried and learned so much about what works for me that life has gotten infinitely better. You only live once, might as well use that time to try wild shit out. Another giant takeaway that isn’t specifically tied to movement or working out is to not live in your head too much and remind yourself regularly that no amount of overanalyzing will solve your brain’s weird little neurotic spirals. Sometimes all you need is truly just loud music so you don’t think or a mental stop sign reminding you that your thoughts aren’t necessarily reality. I know this obviously doesn’t always work and it’s not easy to stop living almost exclusively in your head, but there is a reason why nervous system regulation talk usually mentions moving or action as the antidote to sinking into a dysregulation spiral.

Learn about neuroscience

As much as I often hate the lack of nuance and the giant amount of reinforced sexism from the manifestation girly crowd, it can be incredibly helpful to learn about the neuroscience behind what they yap about. Knowing about the different ways you can engage the neuroplasticity in your brain can feel like you finally know there are tools. Are they easy to use? Not always. Do I recommend learning them on their own without some timey-whimey manifestation blabbering attached to it that tells you every thought creates your reality (hello, spiritual bypassing)? Yes. Learn what priming is. Learn how to play your reward system. Learn why positive visualizations are backed by science. Knowledge is power, especially when you feel miserable.

These are just some of my ideas for how to make movement more depression-friendly. I’d love if people flooded YouTube with more varied takes on this because mine isn’t the ultimate right or most nuanced one and I wish therapists wouldn’t still be stuck on the cognitive behavioral therapy only mode they’ve been applying to this. We need more varied models so people can pick which ones seem more likely to work for them. I hope at least one of the things I’ve mentioned will help you get closer to at least leaving your apartment regularly again (and not just for work if you still work).

If you’ve ever dealt with depression or currently are then please share what helped you, because nothing makes me sicker than those boring ass people that yap about how exercise healed their depression that never explain how they pushed themselves to do movements again (because damn Bobby, if you had enough willpower to just do it with zero accountability partners or ideas tied to neuroscience I’m pretty sure that wasn’t severe depression). Share your actual game plan of what you did/do and reflect on the detours you made that others can dodge. I’m looking forward to your responses.