5 Mental Health Benefits of Exercise
Runstreet runners in LA. Photo by Marques Jackson Photography.
The Mental Health Benefits of Exercise are Far-Reaching
As anyone who works out knows, there are significant mental health benefits of exercise. A rush of endorphins, a burst of energy, a clearer mind, and a sense of pride – these are just some of the incredible feelings of post-workout euphoria. Working out is excellent for heart health, lung capacity, endurance, muscles, and staying fit, but did you know the mental health benefits of exercise are also far-reaching? Here are five of the incredible mental health benefits of exercise:
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1. Exercise Combats Depression and Anxiety
Anxiety disorders affect the lives of 40 million adults in the United States aged 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population. The leading cause of disability in the U.S. for 15- to 43-year-olds is depression. Depression and anxiety are common mental health conditions, and both can greatly impact day-to-day functioning.
Exercise can boost your mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Working out, coupled with healthy eating, moderate alcohol intake, therapy, and possibly medication, is a powerful tool against depression and anxiety.
Moving your body excites the brain, helps to produce neural production, reduces inflammation, and promotes a zen feeling. Endorphin is a hormone released by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland that releases powerful feel-good energizers, resulting in positive demeanors and a sense of hopefulness. Taking part in regular exercise also serves as a healthy distraction and break from all of life’s stressors and can work to re-calibrate your thoughts from negative to positive.
If you are struggling with routine and motivation, find an accountability partner. Try not to go more than two days without movement and be sure to schedule workouts on your calendar or book a class you love. Even when you’re experiencing a bad day, you’ll have something to look forward to with your workout calendar.
If you live with social anxiety, mental health experts have found getting active can actually help with developing and building social skills, improving empathy, and leadership skills. So, if you’ve been meaning to join a sports team, there is no better time. There are also so many free resources on our site (check out our Freebies Training Plans). Head to the Runstreet Training Center to join our community and get started.
2. Exercise Reduces Stress
Photo by Marques Jackson Photography.
When you experience stress, it can attack your immune system, upset your digestive system, impact your reproductive system, cause weight gain or weight loss, increase the risks of heart attack and/or stroke, press the gas pedal on aging, and, over time, can impact the brain, making you more likely to experience anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues. Stress is a killer!
Exercise boosts feelings of well-being and confidence, which will help you handle stress more proactively without getting debilitated by it. When you follow exercise routines, you’ll enjoy a better mood, a sense of hopefulness, and an improved ability to rationalize what is going on around you. Working out can help with creating the neurohormones called norepinephrine, which helps improve mood and dispel brain fog. Moreover, moving your body helps the body’s central and sympathetic nervous system to work together, helping you to handle and respond to stress with ease.
Knowing you handled your stress proactively by moving your body rather than falling into unhealthy habits will boost your self-esteem, too!
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3. Exercise Reduces Symptoms of PTSD and Trauma
A study of adults that live with post-traumatic stress disorder assisted them to undertake a 12-week exercise program that successfully led to a noticeable decrease in PTSD symptoms, depression, and deeper sleep.
By moving your body, it can help combat the effects of trauma and PTSD. Regular physical activity helps to feel more at home in your body, as you move through bodily motions and push your muscles to work. For optimal health benefits, focus on being in the moment and choose exercise that requires concentration such as yoga, tai chi, or running. A regular workout program can boost your sense of well-being and enjoyment of the present.
4. Exercise Improves Sleep
No one likes waking up feeling tired. It’s the worst feeling. If you experience a lack of sleep often, it can lead to serious problems like high blood sugar, diabetes, health attack/failure, stroke, increased risk of developing depression, lowered immunity, and can impact your appearance. It just so happens that as people age, they tend to get less sleep, making them more susceptible to sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep disturbance breathing.
By getting in some physical activity increases the body’s internal thermometer, which can lull your mind to feel peaceful and calm and ready for bed. Exercise also plays a role in our body’s internal alarm clock, called the circadian rhythm, which works with the sleep hormone melatonin to know when it’s time to sleep or when it’s time to feel alert.
5. Exercise Enhances Memory
Did you know that one of the best ways to prevent losing memory is regular exercise? Research points to the brain making brand new brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) after just 30 minutes of working out, which is a chemical that builds new connections between the neurotransmitters in our brain and helps, overall, with remembering things.
Regular workouts can help reduce cognitive decline and keep your brain stimulated and growing.
What Exercise Is Best for Mental Health and Wellbeing?
First, let's define wellbeing. Wellbeing is the ability to deal with the rollercoaster of life, including the challenges, and having the ability to take advantage of opportunities while having a sense of control, purpose, and joy.
When it comes to the mental health benefits of exercise, the right answer is whatever exercise works for you! When it comes to the mental health benefits of exercise, the right answer is whatever exercise works for you. Whethe ryou enjoy low-intensity cardio workouts like walking or more high-intensity activities like HIIT training or running, finding something you enjoy is the key to reaping the physical health and mental health rewards of exercise.
Studies show that a brisk 10-minute walk can greatly impact moods. A 2018 study reported that less than ¼ of Americans are reaching their weekly recommended exercise, which for adults it is to achieve a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercises, plus a minimum of two muscle-strengthening activities, like weightlifting, per week.
Try different things until you find the workout you look forward to the most. Whether that's dancing, swimming, running, rowing, spinning, yoga - the options are endless!
Move for Your Mind
Try and focus on just getting outside, whether that is for a walk, a yoga session in the park, or heading to the swimming pool for 20 minutes. You can build upon the workouts as you set goals and begin to increase your self-confidence.
If you find it daunting due to your overwhelming responsibilities, speak to your workplace and see if they can accommodate a gym-sesh/walking lunch break, or bring the kids along for a walk/jog in the stroller or see if your local recreation center offers childcare.
It can be hard to get started but once you make space for exercise regularly in your routine, you’ll transform your mental health and your overall quality of life as exercise becomes long-term support and a lifestyle. Do you work out for mental health reasons? Comment below and tag @Runstreet on Instagram to get cheered on in your workouts. Happy sweating to you!😊
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Marissa Del Mistro is a writer, editor, and always on the hunt for the perfect workout. Marissa absolutely loves trail running, dancing, and cycling. When she’s not writing, Marissa loves cooking, podcasts, traveling, and exploring her home in the beautiful unceded Coast Salish Territory of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ nations.
