HOW EXERCISE CAN HELP WITH STRESS MANAGEMENT

Presented By:

Sports Appeal, Supplements, Training & Equipment

Exercises Affect Mental Health

Many of us understand and can name a few benefits of exercising regularly. We know that exercise is good for losing weight, lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of diabetes, and increasing energy, among other things.

Those are all great physical benefits of exercising, but what about the mental benefits of exercising?

Exercising helps ease the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress as well as keeps your memory sharp. And those are just a few of the mental benefits of exercise.

A study has shown that millions of people are being affected by mental disorders, and this has a significant impact on the health and social lives of people all over the world.

There are different ways used to help people with mental disorders, but in this blog post, we are going to focus on how exercise can help deal with several mental disorders.

Stress

Stress symptoms may be affecting our health, even though we might not realize it. You may think illness is to blame for that irritating headache, your frequent insomnia or your decreased productivity at work. But stress may actually be the cause.

When a person has long-term (chronic) stress, continued activation of the stress response causes wear and tear on the body. Physical, emotional and behavioral symptoms develop.

Different Kinds of Stress

There are two kinds of stress.

  • Physiological: This is the lesser-known type of stress, but it is the most predictive of overall health and wellness.

    Physiological stress is manifested through hyper-activation of the sympathetic nervous system and an elevated heart rate well after exercising.

    If our body feels “on edge,” we must try a few things that can help us: sleeping more, hydrating more, and eating nutrient-dense foods. Usually, one of the three is the culprit.

  • Psychological: Typically, psychological stress manifests as anxiety and/or erratic behavior.

    An individual feels overwhelmed and often trapped in their decision-making processes.

    Psychological stress prevents us from thinking and acting with a sense of clarity as well as a lack of motivation to attend to whatever task we have.

Physical Stress Symptoms Include:

  • Aches and pains
  • Chest pain or a feeling like your heart is racing.
  • Exhaustion or trouble sleeping.
  • Headaches, dizziness, or shaking
  • High blood pressure.
  • Muscle tension or jaw clenching.
  • Stomach or digestive problems
  • Trouble having sex.
  • Weak immune system.

Emotional and mental symptoms of stress include:

  • Anxiety or irritability.
  • Depression.
  • Panic attacks
  • Sadness

Exercise to Combat Depression

Depression is a common mental disorder worldwide; an estimated 264 million people are affected by depression, with more women being affected than men.

The main symptoms of depression are sadness, loss of interest in most things, tiredness, and most people with depression have physical complaints with no physical cause.

If exercise helps people with depression to find some time to be distracted from negative thoughts, it can build a habit in a person so that he has little time to focus on such negative thoughts that keep him depressed and stressed.

Over time, he will find a reason to enjoy life like others.

Exercises are also a good trigger of hormones like endorphins, which help to boost the mood and be more optimistic about life. It also helps to improve self-confidence.

Exercises Also Help Us To:

1. Improved sleep

If we have trouble getting a good night’s sleep, exercise can help us with that, too.

Physical activity increases body temperature, which can have calming effects on the mind, leading to better sleep.

Exercise also helps regulate your circadian rhythm, our bodies’ built-in alarm clock that controls when we feel tired and when we feel alert. Although improved sleep is a mental benefit of exercise, sleep experts recommend not exercising close to bedtime.

2. It sharpens the mind

From building intelligence to strengthening memory, exercise boosts brainpower in a number of ways.

Studies on mice and humans indicate that cardiovascular exercise creates new brain cells—a process called neurogenesis—and improves 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.

3. Improves self-esteem and confidence

Exercises mainly help a person to have and stay in good shape and help to improve posture.

This characteristic of good posture leads to increased feelings of power and a higher tolerance for risk.

It is this physical benefit of exercise that makes a person feel more confident and have higher self-esteem.

4. Lessen anxiety

Anxiety is usually defined as irrational fear or excessive worry about events or factors in one’s life.

Engaging in exercise diverts us from the very thing you are anxious about. Moving parts of your body increases your heart rate, which increases the availability of anti-anxiety hormones like serotonin that stabilize your mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness.

How Does Exercise Help With Stress?

Physical activity improves our body’s ability to use oxygen and also improves blood flow. Both of these changes have a direct effect on your brain.

Exercise also increases the brain’s production of endorphins. Endorphins are the “feel-good” neurotransmitters that are responsible for the coveted “runner’s high.”

This is the sense of well-being and euphoria that many people experience after exercise.

Physical activity can also help take your mind off your worries. The repetitive motions involved in exercise promote a focus on your body rather than your mind.

By concentrating on the rhythm of your movements, we experience many of the same benefits of meditation while working out.

Focusing on a single physical task can produce a sense of energy and optimism. This focus can help provide calmness and clarity.

In addition to having a direct effect on your stress levels, regular exercise also promotes optimum health in other ways.

Improvements to our overall health may help indirectly moderate our stress levels.

By improving our physical wellness and heart health, we’ll have less to feel stressed about.

How Much Exercise Do We Need?

Specialists recommend getting at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week. They suggest breaking it down into manageable 30-minute workout sessions at least five days a week.

If we’re short on time and can’t fit in a full 30-minute session, three 10-minute workouts have been shown to work almost as well as 30 minutes at once.

They also encourage you to incorporate at least two sessions of muscle-strengthening activities into your weekly routine. We should give all our major muscle groups a good workout, including our arms, shoulders, chest, back, abdomen, legs, abs, and other core muscles.

If we’re new to an exercise program, we must be sure to build up our physical activity level gradually.

For example, our doctor might suggest us start with 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, three days a week, and increase gradually from there.

Workouts for Improving Mental Health

In regards to different kinds of exercise combating stress, let’s focus on three different modalities.

1. Cardio
2. Weight Training
3. Yoga and stretching

Cardio & Weight Training

Through similar mechanisms, cardio and weight training can help alleviate both physiological and psychological stress.

Cardio and weight training better prime cardiovascular function and the autonomic nervous system.

As we improve upon our overall fitness through cardio and weight training, our bodies gain better control over changes in heart rate.

With repeated training sessions, the heart does not have to work as hard to complete the same amount of work.

An individual’s heart rate does not skyrocket so rapidly into training but also decreases more rapidly after training.

Cardio and weight training also create better stop-and-go control over activation or de-activation of the stress-promoting arm of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system.

This is one of many reasons why cardiovascular and anaerobic conditioning can increase heart rate variability, a positive measure of overall health and wellness.

Cardio and weight training also alleviate psychological stress through the production of runner’s and weightlifter’s highs.

Cardio triggers the release of “happy” chemicals and hormones, including:

  • Endorphins: a hormone produced by the body in response to exercise that gives the sensation of being “strong” and “powerful”.

  • Testosterone-Both men and women produce and release testosterone in response to exercise. It is a hormone of recovery, after all. Testosterone, much like endorphins, increases the feeling of being “strong” and “powerful”.

  • Dopamine: A chemical that is produced and released by several brain areas and increases pleasure and reward-seeking behavior.

  • Serotonin-A chemical produced and released from several brain areas that improves mood and positive affect.

Yoga for Improving Mental Health

Yoga and stretching also combat physiological and psychological stress, but through a very different mechanism of action.

Both activate the recovery and regeneration arm of the autonomic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic nervous system is what triggers recovery at a system level.

Yoga is also a great exercise that helps us stay active and fit, besides reducing depression, stress, and anxiety.

Yoga is the best option for brain-boosting and also provides you with the energy to work.

As yoga combines exercise, relaxation, meditation, and socialization, it is the best way to reduce stress and depression in the mind.

If we can regulate the stress response system, it will help us clear our negative thoughts, focus on the current situation, and calm the nervous system.

It plays an important role in bringing balance and peace back into your life. It also helps in reducing the respiratory rate and blood pressure.

Yoga To Improve Our Mood

Yoga helps improve our mood. Doing yoga for 1 hour each day will help elevate our mood and make us feel happy and content.

Many people who have trouble sleeping and feel bad frequently should start doing yoga to elevate their mood and make them feel good.

Keep The Brain Young

One of the best ways to keep the brain young is to do yoga in the morning.

Another psychological benefit of doing yoga is that it maintains the proper health and vitality in our brains even as we age.

It is shown that people who practice yoga will help their brains stay young, well-oxygenated and calm for a long time.

Reduce the Effect of PTSD and Similar Situations

If you have PTSD or similar situations, you can start doing yoga. It will help us reduce all the effects of PTSD and associated situations that hamper your mental condition.

Yoga helps with improving sleep, anxiety, and stress.

Yoga and stretching also combat physiological and psychological stress, but through a very different mechanism of action.

Both activate the recovery and regeneration arm of the autonomic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic nervous system is what triggers recovery at a system level.

Yoga is also a great exercise that helps us stay active and fit, besides reducing depression, stress, and anxiety.

Yoga is the best option for brain-boosting and also provides you with the energy to work.

As yoga combines exercise, relaxation, meditation, and socialization, it is the best way to reduce stress and depression in the mind.

If we can regulate the stress response system, it will help us clear our negative thoughts, focus on the current situation, and calm the nervous system.

It plays an important role in bringing balance and peace back into your life. It also helps in reducing the respiratory rate and blood pressure.

Improve Your Concentration And Memory

One of the best things we can do is practice yoga to improve our overall concentration and memory.

If we are lagging in memory and cannot memorize, we should start practicing yoga in the morning.

Stress Management Exercise Program

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach in terms of how to integrate cardio, weight training, yoga, and stretching for overall stress management, health, and wellness.

The approach will vary from individual to individual. However, here is a general weekly program that can be used as a guideline:

  • Monday: 20–30 minutes of continuous cardio at 50–60% RPE followed by 30–45 minutes of isometric training targeting all muscle groups: anterior and posterior chain, upper and lower body.

    The intent is to prime the sympathetic nervous system for the week but not to overly stress the system.

  • Tuesday: 10 minutes of dynamic plyometrics at 80-90 RPE. Plyometrics comes in the form of ladder and/or banded sprints, box jumps, burpees, and squats using assisted bands.

    These ten minutes will be challenging and, therefore, extremely taxing on the autonomic nervous system, resulting in rapid inclines and declines in heart rate, with increasing heart rate variability at large.

  • Wednesday: 20–30 minutes of continuous cardio at 50–60% RPE, followed by 30–45 minutes of weight training targeting specific muscle groups.

    The intent is to continue to strengthen the sympathetic nervous system while backing down on effort so as not to overly stress the system.

  • Thursday: 30–45 minutes of yoga and stretching. These exercises are intended to give the sympathetic nervous system a day off by activating recovery and regeneration via the parasympathetic nervous system.

  • Friday and Saturday: Get outside and try a new sport at least once a week.Spending time outside the gym or learning a new skill can prevent burnout and keep motivation high.

  • Sunday: Rest Day. Rest is essential for overall stress management, recovery, and regeneration.

Conclusion

Exercise leads to better stress management. It occurs through the recruitment and activation of several systems in our body and brain to release numerous hormones and chemicals, leading to varied types of positive changes in behavior, mood, and wellness.

Even by just being outside, increases vitamin D production, which is now linked to overall health and wellness, especially related to the immune system, and learning a new skill facilitates neuroplasticity, the act of improving the number and speed of neuronal connections across the brain.

If we’re out of shape or new to exercising, we must ask our doctor for guidance on what forms of exercise are right for us.

They can help us develop a safe and effective workout routine while taking our specific conditions and fitness level into account.

Nevertheless, we can enjoy the stress-relieving benefits of exercise even if we’re out of shape or not athletic.

Regular exercise can help us feel less stressed, anxious, and depressed and more relaxed, optimistic, and happy.

It can also improve our overall health, including the health of our hearts.