Could running have saved Robin Williams's life?

Yes, it could have.

Weight lifting perhaps but running? No.

Yes running has always helped with my depression and anxiety.

Williams was into cycling at one point. (In fact I met him through cycling).

I think you have no understanding of depression (especially if one adds in the report that he was in the earliest stages of Parkinson's).

I think you are oversimplifying things and think that running is more powerful than it is. Yes, there is evidence that exercise can help with the symptoms of depression.

1 Robin Williams ran high school cross country in the Bay Area

2 He's dead already

That a tough question to answer, he was awfully hairy, and may have been an issue.

Thanks for the response, luv2run. I do have some understanding of depression, having been treated for the disease both through medication and therapy. Perhaps I am oversimplifying, but I can't help thinking based on my own experience that running might have made a difference and kept him alive.

Only if he was running away from someone who couldn't break 1:58.

He ran the 800 meters on PURE DEPRESSION!!!

too soon?

I don't think running would have helped him and I am a big advocate on the psychological benefits of running.

I think he was facing too many things. For one he had early Parkinson's Disease. There is no improvement with Parkinson's, it continues. Especially when you are older and alcohol abuse exacerbates it.

He was facing a bleak future and an expensive one at that.

The medical expenses would escalate.

Also, he has two ex wives who apparently raped him financially, although I don't know that for sure.

This way he can leave a decent amount of money for his kids and current wife. End without his career coming to a pathetic end - he left a huge legacy of great performances.

I watched Parkinson's take my father. As soon as I found out that he had Parkinson's it made sense. I am not so sure depression played nearly as much a factor as everyone thinks. Apparently he was clean too - no drugs or alcohol in his system.

This

Rationalist wrote:

Weight lifting perhaps but running? No.

The Parkinson's aspect certainly gives me pause. Could he run at all with that awful condition?

Probably not. I think about suicide as a way out everyday (don't have the guts to do it, which causes me to resent myself even more), and know for a fact running would not help me.

More running = less drugs. Less drugs = less depression.

Yes running could have saved his life, if he took it seriously enough to give up coke for. Or a least keep it to smoking weed.

Robin Wliiams should have joined SOCOM (Navy, Air Force, Army) Special Operators to protect the United States of America from the terrorists. He was in excellent physical shape and would have been a great sailor, airman, or soldier for our specialists outfit.

luv2run wrote:

Williams was into cycling at one point. (In fact I met him through cycling).

I think you have no understanding of depression (especially if one adds in the report that he was in the earliest stages of Parkinson's).

I think you are oversimplifying things and think that running is more powerful than it is. Yes, there is evidence that exercise can help with the symptoms of depression.

^^This. Williams was an avid cyclist, not just a fan who showed up at the Tour to cheer on Lance.

No one, except maybe close friends and family, knows what could have made the difference for Williams. Reading all the stories of him since his death, I doubt he hung himself due to a lack of love. He was one of the most loved and admired people on the planet, and not just for his great acting and comedy, but by those who knew him personally.

There's no telling what pushed him over the edge, whether his diagnosis of Parkinson, his cancelled tv show, family issues, other things, or a combination of all those things. But all it took was one deep dark moment, no matter how well he had been doing for days or weeks, and it was all over for him.

RIP.

RIP you brought us miles of smiles

http://uniladmag.com/video/robin-williams-tribute-video-pretty-awesome/

For a while and he could afford the drugs and perhaps the operations that Michael J. Fox had, but it would get him soon, as he was 63. Complications would get him in less than a decade I bet....what a way to go, slowly losing control...he probably looked at his future and thought, after riding the highest high for nearly 40 years....it comes down to that?

hdm wrote:

RIP you brought us miles of smiles

http://uniladmag.com/video/robin-williams-tribute-video-pretty-awesome/

Another outlet of escape from harsh, cruel, sadistic, reality.

Robin provided tons of laughs, must have seen GMV at least 1/2 dozen times. A much loved person. Couldn't he have understood this despite his seemingly bleak future - which was debatable??!!

And yes a pretty super track star in his HS days, 1:58 would have challenged the HS mark up here on Van. Island in 1968.