Can Exercise Improve Your Mental Health?

DSC07772.jpg

There are amazing second order effects that exercise offers. Here are 5 that improve your quality of life:

  1. Help for depression and anxiety
    If you want to improve mood and decrease both depression and anxiety, exercise is for you! Exercise releases endorphins that produce feelings of happiness and euphoria. You don’t even need to exercise like crazy. Even moderate exercise throughout the week improves depression and anxiety. Before turning to medication, consider an exercise regime first!

  2. Decreased stress
    Another enormous benefit of exercise is a reduction in stress, which leads to happiness. Increasing your heart rate can actually reverse stress-induced brain damage by stimulating the production of neurohormones like norepinephrine, which not only improve cognition and mood but improve thinking clouded by stressful events. Exercise also forces the body’s central and sympathetic nervous systems to communicate with one another, improving the body’s overall ability to respond to stress.

  3. Increased self-esteem and self-confidence
    Hitting personal records, training on consecutive days, and seeing your body change can lead to major boots in your self confidence. You may not set out to look better, run farther, or lift heavier, but it often happens without you knowing it.

  4. Better sleep
    There are many supplements and sleep aids that can be useful getting better sleep. For a person who is sedentary, there is no better sleep aid than exercise. Physical activity increases body temperature, which can have calming effects on the mind, leading to less sheep counting and more shuteye. Exercise also helps regulate your circadian rhythm, our bodies’ built-in alarm clock that controls when we feel tired and when we feel alert.

  5. Brain boost
    Exercise can also boost brain power in many ways. Studies on mice and humans indicate that cardiovascular exercise creates new brain cells—a process called neurogenesis—and improve overall brain performance. It also prevents cognitive decline and memory loss by strengthening the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning. Studies also prove that physical activity boosts creativity and mental energy. I can’t tell you how many times I have come up with great and creative ideas after exercise!

If these benefits have you motivated to get started, I’m here to help! Click the link below to get started.