April 14, 2015
Jordan Strauss/AP
Actress, writer and director Lena Dunham poses with the award for best television series - comedy or musical - for "Girls" backstage at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday Jan. 13, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lena Dunham, the creator, writer and star of the HBO series "Girls," shared an inspired photo and post on her Instagram account Monday about how exercise has helped her cope with anxiety:
"Promised myself I would not let exercise be the first thing to go by the wayside when I got busy with Girls Season 5 and here is why: it has helped with my anxiety in ways I never dreamed possible. To those struggling with anxiety, OCD, depression: I know it's mad annoying when people tell you to exercise, and it took me about 16 medicated years to listen. I'm glad I did. It ain't about the ass, it's about the brain."
Dunham has previously been publicly open about her battle with mental illness, which she detailed in her memoir "Not That Kind of Girl."
"Every morning when I wake up, there is one blissful second before I look around the room and remember my many terrors." - Lena Dunham, "Not That Kind of Girl."
The New Yorker shared a snippet from the book prior to its release:
"I am eight, and I am afraid of everything. The list of things that keep me up at night includes but is not limited to: appendicitis, typhoid, leprosy, unclean meat, foods I haven’t seen emerge from their packaging, foods my mother hasn’t tasted first so that if we die we die together, homeless people, headaches, rape, kidnapping, milk, the subway, sleep."
"Every morning when I wake up, there is one blissful second before I look around the room and remember my many terrors."
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, exercise is a powerful tool in treating mental illness.
Science has also provided some evidence that physically active people have lower rates of anxiety and depression than sedentary people. Exercise may improve mental health by helping the brain cope better with stress. In one study, researchers found that those who got regular vigorous exercise were 25 percent less likely to develop depression or an anxiety disorder over the next five years.
