When I heard a psychologist talking about how exercise can help one mentally I do wonder how does exercise benefit my mental health because I don’t understand. And not until we relocated to another state for me to continue high school did I get engaged in sports.
I always loved exercise since when I was in high school because I know the physical benefit of it so with that I used to think that is how it helps one mentally so most times, I did my exercise for fun or to ensure that I don’t get fat and I keep being flexible.
But as time went by, I started understanding that exercise does not only helps us in the body physical health only but that it also helps us mentally and emotionally.
Exercise can be seen as one of the best medicine for anyone looking for how to solve mental health issues with using the medication as exercise is medicine on its own.
It can help work alcoholics when they are over-stressed to avoid disorders like depression, stress, anxiety, etc. exercise has a lot of benefits to our mental health so in this article, we will be discussing how exercise benefits our mental health.
How Does Exercise Benefit My Mental Health?
There are a lot of ways it benefits our mental health and below here are a few ways that exercise benefits our mental health;
1. Lighten the mood: have you ever felt down like everything is turned upside down like everyone has left you and your mood is nothing to write home about and then you decided to walk out, and in the process of doing that, you discover that your heart is lightened and you feel like a heavyweight was taken from you?
If you have experienced that before, then congratulations because that is one of the benefits of the exercise you just did. Exercise helps wash away negative vibes that come to us that is why you easily see people who are in a bad mood or who are going through a lot like heartbreak from a relationship or losing someone, etc. working out even more than they used to do.
They are not working out because they lack what to do or because they don’t want to talk to someone but it is because they need a silent moment and where they can clear their head and one of the best places that can help them achieve that is either the gym or a workout in the park, etc.
Exercise has a big role to play in your mood that is why it is important to exercise if not daily but weekly not only when you are in a bad mood but even when you are happy because it will help keep you and your mood in check.
2. It handles depression: depression is also connected to your mood that is to say that if you are depressed it is as a result of your bad mood and what can help fix these two? Nothing else but exercise.
It helps fight depression because when we are depressed, there is a possibility of us having anxiety and when that happened, it will be very bad for our health.
So exercise is the best way to work on our depression.
3. Relief of stress: Do you know that stress can also cause anxiety? If you didn’t know, now you do. That is why we are always told to rest when we overstressed ourselves for the day.
Exercise is what you need if you are always busy doing one thing or the other while having time for yourself either for a siesta or to relax your bones.
Exercise helps you relax and also work on your stress hormone to ensure that you don’t break down as a result of running around to make a good living for yourself or your family.
It also helps in a way that makes anxiety attacks to be far from you. When you are stressed-free, your hormones can do their full duty again.
4. Improving sleeping habits: when last did you exercise and when last did you have a good sleep? I mean asleep that makes you feel like a baby, asleep that makes you feel that you are in a very safe place you don’t need to worry about anything that goes into the dreamland?
Most people don’t sleep for even 8 hours at night not because they don’t want to sleep or because they are busy. Some of them are because they can’t sleep, they have been turning around their beds for hours yet no sleep.
This is as a result of trouble heart, meaning that your heart is racing even without you having anything in mind but your heart is trouble, is depressed, and is lacking or carving for something.
To be able to fix this, you will need exercise as it helps in both anxiety and depression. It will help lighten your mood, your heart so that you can feel relaxed and then be able to sleep well at night.
5. It builds stamina: when we say it builds stamina we are not saying that everyone who exercises, has the power to stand when they fight. Stamina in this content can also mean that people that exercise can stand their ground mentally.
Exercise helps us to be able to stand out ground when the wind comes to blow us away. Making our brains to be able to process whatever we come across without breaking down.
It boosts the energy in us which will give us all the stamina we want to keep going even when life looks like everyone is against us.
6. Stimulation: the ability of us to read, understand, and also remember is a result of our brain. That is why when the brain is tired, no matter what you know, the brain will not compare with you that is because they too need rest.
Exercise helps the brain to stimulate and also relaxed when necessary even when we over-stress it because of our goal to achieve something without thinking if we will break down.
It builds the cells needed to function well.
7. Improved low self-esteem: Have you ever watched a movie or seen a young kid that was usually bullied at school by the big guys but after they start working out they can counter back? Yeah, it might be a movie but the truth is that they are acting the real thing.
Exercise helps in bringing bye that self-confidence that was once lost or taken away from us because we were naïve or something.
Most people especially young ones lost their self-esteem because of their physical appearance. It may be fat or their shape, etc. and when this self-esteem is lost, it affects the brain and then keeps filling them with negative thoughts about themselves. And at the end of it, they will keep doubting themselves which can result in having anxiety.
So help that kid, exercise is the best thing you can recommend as it has all the answers to his or her questions. Exercise helps in reducing weight and then reshaping us to whatever physical shape that we have an interest in.
Exercise benefits us in many ways not just mentally but also emotionally.
