Exercise and Mental Health

 Exercise has many benefits for your physical health and physique but it also has many positive benefits for your mental health! Exercising regularly can help you feel more energetic throughout the day, help improve your sleep, help improve your memories, and can even reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

Treatment For Depression: There have been multiple studies done to show that exercise can actually treat moderate depression just as effectively as antidepressants. This is because during exercise, your brain releases endorphins that energize you and make you feel good. It also acts as a distraction for negative thoughts, which is my number one reason why I like to exercise! 

Treatment For Anxiety: Exercise can actually help reduce any stress or tension in your body. Something that really helps eliminate anxiety during exercise is to engage mindfulness elements such as focusing on your body and how it feels. By putting all your focus on your body and all the sensations you feel during exercise, you can interrupt the constant worries running through your mind! 

Treatment For Stress:  During periods of high stress, your muscles tighten up and become very tense which leads to headaches, muscle cramps, and even chest pain which enhances stress even more. During exercise, your muscles relax and you relieve that tension throughout your body. Studies have shown a correlation between the body and the mind so whenever you relieve all that tension in your body, you relieve the tension in your mind too!

Comments

  1. Amelia ThompsonOctober 26, 2021 at 8:52 AM

    Really great post! I have personally used exercise to improve my mental health. I find it very interesting that the body can interrupt constant worries by focusing on the sensations felt during exercise. I did not know that muscles tighten during high stress. I really like that you are bringing attention to mental health and offering ways to aid it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ashley BurtOctober 26, 2021 at 8:19 PM

    Exercise is the best way to deal with mental health issues; at least for me. I used to take antidepressants and I'll be honest those things have nothing on physical activity. Once I started taking care of my body through food and exercise my mental health got better a lot faster than it did with antidepressants.

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