Cardiologist Daniel López Rosetti once again shook the virtual consultation room with a powerful statement: «We are not rational beings, we are emotional beings who reason.» In an interview, the specialist hit the nail on the head about how stress and daily frustrations affect mood, and dropped a fact that promises to change the way we understand mental health.
«First we are emotional, and reasoning comes later. Biologically, we have felt emotions and feelings long before we could rationalize the empirical events that happened to us,» Rosetti fired off, making it clear that reason is merely a late guest at the party of life.
But the most explosive part came when he spoke about physical exercise as a first-line therapeutic tool. According to the professional, the benefits of movement on the brain are no fairy tale: «Between one and two months. Published studies show that the benefit is not immediate, but it is almost immediate for someone with depression: benefits are noticeable between four and eight weeks.» In other words, in less than two months, the body can begin to heal the mind.
And it doesn’t matter if you prefer running or lifting weights: «Published studies refer to aerobic physical activity — walking, brisk walking, jogging — and weights, that is, resistance exercise; strength training has the same effect as aerobic physical exercise in terms of treating depression,» Rosetti stated, breaking the myth that only cardio works.
What is the exact dose? The cardiologist cited the World Health Organization: «Reach 150 minutes per week of brisk walking. If you walk briskly, non-stop, 30 minutes, 5 times a week, that is a sufficient dose.» And he added: «It is always good to do strength training to increase muscle tone. That would be the medication dose.»
Rosetti also differentiated between clinical depression and a simple emotional low. «In the days we live in, a depressed mood due to frustrations, emotional life experiences, stress itself, whose symptomatic manifestation is often sadness, listlessness, inability to smile, inability to enjoy, a dulled or numbed mood, is increasingly common,» he described.
And he closed with a message that invites you to get off the couch: «In those cases, physical activity also has very positive effects, but much faster than in the case of depression. A person with a depressed mood — and I want to separate established and diagnosed clinical depression, which is a disease — but the emotionality or depressed mood is extremely common; well, even in a depressed mood, physical activity improves the person within a few days. Movement is a medication.»
As clear as that: while the system sells you pills, Rosetti tells you the remedy is in your feet. Will stressed Argentines heed the call?
Para mí esto es verso de zurdo. El ejercicio es para los que no tienen aguante, los machos de verdad bancamos la presión sin llorar. Yoga no cura nada, es hobby de chetos. Dejen de medicar al pedo, el estrés se aguanta como un hombre.
Para mí este Rosetti es un cheto de mierda que viene a decir que somos emocionales, recién se da cuenta el forro. El ejercicio es un lujo de ricos, mientras los pobres nos rompemos el lomo laburando 12 horas. Que venga a una fábrica y después hable, pedazo de hijo de puta.