By Nadia Popova
While the physical health benefits of exercise are often discussed, the link between exercise and mental health is often overlooked. Exercise does naturally what scientists in the pharmaceutical world have been creating for decades. In fact, mental health professionals often prescribe exercise as part of the treatment for mental illness.
It is important to find physical activities and/or exercise that YOU personally find appealing and enjoy doing. Level of enjoyment is crucial to success and sticking with it for the long haul!
It is also important to broaden our scope when it comes to physical activity. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, biking to work instead of driving or parking a little further away from the store to allow for a short walk are simple, easy ways to do MORE mood boosting physical activity throughout your day.
You can start with something simple, such as:
Setting your alarm a few minutes earlier so you can stretch or do morning yoga
Parking a little further from your destination so you walk more
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
Regular exercise is vital to your mental wellness.
Exercise can help your mental health by:
Training your brain to relieve stress through physical exertion
Refocusing your attention from harmful mental narratives to positive goal setting
Connecting you to a network of peers and a community of people achieving physical wellness
What are the benefits of exercise? Besides a stronger body, you’ll notice these mental health impacts with regular exercise:
mood lifting
decrease in depression symptoms
decrease in anxiety symptoms
stress reduction
deeper sleep
reduction in risk for dementia
improved cognitive functioning
anger management
improved attention span
Again, the key to sticking to any exercise program or routine is finding something you enjoy doing and will keep you motivated to keep doing it. Things to consider:
– Would it be helpful to hire a coach/trainer to keep you motivated and moving safely?
– Would you like to take a class such as yoga, Pilates, or an aerobics class in a group atmosphere?
– Would you enjoy a cycling class where you can zone out and jam out to your favorite tunes?
The best part is you don’t need to commit an overwhelming amount of time to it in order to reap all the benefits. In fact, just 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5x a week is all it takes to enjoy both the physical as well as the mental and emotional advantages of a regular exercise routine.
Even better, those minutes don’t have to be strung together all at once, either. Breaking it down into smaller increments of time, however they may fit into your day, your life and your schedule, produces the same results.
Boost Your Mood!
This one might be a given, but it’s worth repeating! Exercise releases chemicals in the brain, like endorphins and serotonin that can physically improve your mood. Bonus, these chemicals are released within just ten minutes of physical activity.
Keep that statistic in mind when you just don’t feel like working out. Commit to 10 minutes and most likely you’ll be feeling good enough to not only get through your workout, you’ll brighten up the rest of your day, too!
With the continuing efforts to break down the mental health stigma it should be highlighted that working out has mental health benefits as well as its obvious physical benefits. It can help things like depression and anxiety as well as stuff such as ADHD, PTSD and trauma. Exercising is an effective way to look after your mental, physical and social wellbeing.
At Send Me A Trainer we are dedicated to help our community to stay healthy and fit by providing the convenience of having a trainer coming to them. We are a Team of Highly Professionals Educated Fitness Trainers that have been helping our clients to get in shape for more than 10 years. To look at all our trainers Profiles and Bios please visit www.sendmeatrainer.com/palmsprings or call (760)880-9904
