Kelly McGonigal

speaker

787 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 24 Jul

Kelly McGonigal’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The School of Greatness · The Real Reason Stress Is Hurting You | Kelly McGonigal · 24 Jul 2026 podcast

So if you're on a do-it-yourself supportive pathway, in addition to or instead of that other stuff, exercise, number one.

And I know how that sounds to somebody who's depressed.

I know because I've actually been in the state where it was so hard to move

I would have punched someone who told me to exercise if I had the strength to punch someone who told me to exercise.

So I understand what it can be like to be in a physical state of depression or grief where every cell in your motor system is saying, don't move, making it impossible to even get to put one foot in front of the other.

That said, there is nothing else you can do that more dramatically and profoundly changes your brain chemistry immediately and in the long term.

to relieve depression, whether we are talking about the brain chemistry that kicks in, the adrenaline and the dopamine that just gives you a little bit of energy, even if you're depressed, that tends to kick in immediately, to over time, as your brain learns how to benefit from exercise, you will start to get an exercise high.

that gives you high levels of endocannabinoids and dopamine and endorphins that just transform your outlook on like the day that you exercise.

And then six weeks, eight weeks, months later, you see changes in the structure of the brain that can only be compared to what you see from the most cutting edge neurological treatments for depression, things like deep brain stimulation.

So yeah, the exercise actually changes your reward system, the structure and function of your reward system

in ways that can help it recover from depression or addiction, which can absolutely wreak havoc on the brain's ability to experience joy and anticipate pleasure and stay motivated.

Depression, grief, and addiction, it's like they all have a very similar effect on the brain's ability to experience positive motivation and take joy in everyday life.

And exercise is, as far as I can tell, because I looked for it in the research, as far as I can tell, it's the only thing that you can choose to do that has that kind of impact on your brain in the long term.

That's number one.

I could keep going, but do you want to talk?

Okay.

Number two, this is going to sound super cheesy, but I believe this is find a way to be of service to others.

I mean, the research really supports this as well.

But if you think about, you know, we talked about depression as being possibly for some people, it's like a defeat response where you've had experiences in life that have misled you into believing that you don't have value or that you aren't cared about, or there's nothing you can do to make a difference in your life or in the world.

And the fastest way to get

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