How Exercise Helps Your Mental Health

Do you know that exercising can improve your sleep, boost your mood, and help you get rid of depression, stress, and anxiety? Keep reading to learn how exercise helps your mental health.

how exercise helps your mental health

Mental Health Benefits of Excercise

Exercise isn’t just about body building or running around the place. Exercise can beautify your physical physique, build your waistline, increase your lifespan and even improve your sex life, but these are not the reasons why some people exercise.

Some people do exercise because it gives them a sense of well-being. It helps them get the sound sleep their body needs at night, improves their memory, and helps them think positively. Exercise has proven to be good medicine for mental health issues.

You don’t have to be a fan of fitness to reap the benefits of regular exercise. Research has found that regular exercise can yield a lot of differences. It can relieve your stress and boost your overall mood. Most of all, regardless of your age, it can serve as a tool to deal with mental health issues and even improve your appearance.

Anxiety, Depression and Mental Health

Exercise is naturally an anti-anxiety cure, which relieves tension and stress. It also boosts energy mentally and physically and improves overall well-being through the release of endorphins.

Any activity that keeps you moving might be beneficial, but if you continue by maintaining the tempo, you’ll get more.

Try to pay attention to small details, such as the sound of your feet on the ground, the rhythm of your breathing, or the sensation of the wind on your skin. You’ll get in better physical shape if you include this mindfulness element in your workouts.

By paying attention to your body and how it feels when exercising, you can also reduce anxiety and other thoughts that are going through your mind.

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Depression, Exercise and Mental Health

According to studies, exercise is the best antidepressant for depression. The best part about this is that it comes with no side effects, unlike some antidepressant drugs.

A recent study has proven that walking for an hour or running for 15 minutes a day can reduce the risk of depression by 26%. Furthermore, regular exercise can prevent one from relapsing.

Exercise fights depression and promotes changes like neural growth, reduced inflammation, and other activities that bring calm and well-being.

Exercise serves as a form of distraction, which allows you some quiet time to get away from negative energy and thoughts that lead to depression.

Stress, Exercise and Mental Health

Have you ever paid attention to how your body reacts to stress? Your stiff muscles, particularly those in your face, neck, and shoulders, might be the cause of your back discomfort, neck pain, or excruciating headaches.

A racing heart or tightness in your chest might be experienced. Other issues that you can have include sleeplessness, heartburn, and stomachaches.

As a result of the anxiety and pain brought on by all these bodily symptoms, a vicious loop between your mind and body can be created that might result in even more stress.

An exercise is a powerful tool for ending this pattern. Physical exercise helps to relax the muscles and release tension in the body, in addition to producing endorphins in the brain.

Since the body and mind are intertwined, when one is feeling better, the other will and that is how exercise helps your mental health.

Exercise, Trauma and PTSD

Evidently,  being mindful of your body and how it feels when exercising will assist your nervous system get “unstuck” and start to emerge from the stiffness stress reaction that defines PTSD or trauma.

Instead of letting your thoughts stray, concentrate on the actual sensations in your joints, muscles, and even internal organs as you move your body during exercise.

Some of your greatest options are cross-movement exercises that use both your arms and legs, such as walking in sand, jogging, swimming, lifting weights, or dancing.

if you carry out in outdoor activities like hiking, sailing, mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and skiing, Symptoms of PTSD can be reduced.

How to Get Started With Exercise During Mental Health Issues

A lot of us find it difficult to exercise sometimes because of a lack of motivation, especially during mental health issues, which can make us feel trapped.

Exercising makes you feel better, but you have been so depressed that you lack motivation. However, below are some of the ways to begin and stay motivated.

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Begin Small. When you’re suffering from depression and haven’t exercised in a long time, do not plan to achieve exaggerated feats like running a marathon or working out for an hour every morning. Instead of feeling terrible if you don’t achieve that goal, start small as your body permits.

Schedule workouts when you have the most energy. Maybe you have the most energy in the morning before work or school, or at lunchtime before the mid-afternoon slump? Maybe you exercise better during the weekends.

You should try dancing to music if you feel unmotivated because of depression. Taking a walk in the park or on a quiet road can improve your mood and boost your energy. Curry out these things when your energy is at its highest.

Concentrate on activities that you enjoy. Any activity that gets you moving counts as exercise.

Running around with your dog, window shopping or riding a bicycle around are all forms of exercise.

When your mood is low, activities like gardening or doing home chores can be fantastic ways to start and will leave you feeling accomplished.

Be Comfortable. Wear comfortable clothes and choose a calm and energising place for exercise. It could be your home or your favourite park.

Pamper Yourself. Give yourself a nice treat after exercising; it will motivate you to do more next time.

A delicious meal, some nice drinks and soothing music can go a long way, or even your favourite sitcom.

In conclusion, you don’t have to go live in the gym or devote your time to exhausting exercises that will leave you gasping for breath.

A little dance and some yoga will make you drift away gradually from depression.

I hope you enjoyed reading how exercise helps your mental health, don’t forget to share this with your friends.

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