286. Dr. Jordan Metzl: Why Movement Is a First-Line Drug for Depression

0:00In Western medicine, we do great at treating the problem after somebody has diabetes where we can treat it, but why not think about preventing that from happening in the first place?

0:07And we don't spend nearly enough time thinking about that and incentivizing it.

0:11When you look at the broad data on status of healthcare in America, we don't realize what portion of our tax revenue is just going to support preventable chronic disease.

0:20Exercise is a first-line drug.

0:21That's an exact example of the medicine of exercise.

0:24What we're really prescribing is community.

0:26One of the first signs of early depressive symptoms is people become more and more and more reclusive.

0:31Less social interaction and less mobility.

0:34It's really what motivation is, which is people want to connect and they want to help other people.

0:37It's so much better to have a community.

0:39And that's what I realized early on.

0:41Bringing people together was a way to harness motivation and to encourage motivation.

0:45That really made a big difference.

0:46When people have gotten accustomed to this sedentary lifestyle, how do you get them off their ass?

0:52That's the $100,000 question.

0:54And I'll give you two answers to that.

0:55Number one is...