10 Ways Exercising Daily Can Stabilize Your Mental Health

Relieving Depression

Research and studies show exercising can help with the treatment of depression. If you have mild to moderate levels of depression, exercising could work just as well as medications that are used to treat depression. The other great thing about choosing exercising over medications is that you wouldn’t have to deal with the side effects. One study showed that 15 minutes of running every day or going on a walk for one hour will lower the risk of severe depression by over 25%. In addition, exercising can also help with preventing a fall back into a depressive episode.

Exercising can help to reduce depression in many ways. For one thing, it positively affects the brain. It helps with neural growth, reduces inflammation in the brain, and helps to promote positive feelings. In addition, exercising helps release strong chemicals in the brain called endorphins. These the body’s natural feel-good chemicals.

Those who are suffering from depression often need something to distract themselves from the negative feelings they are having. Exercising is also a great distractor. It helps people to get out of their mind for a bit.

Easing Your Anxiety

If you suffer from anxiety you might find that exercising can help reduce or even get rid of your anxiety. Exercising has been shown to help relieve stress and tension. It helps to improve both mental and physical energy levels. By releasing powerful endorphins throughout the brain, exercising can help to improve your overall well-being. Anxiety might cause you to zone out, but exercising can help you to refocus your mind and your thoughts.

If you choose to exercise to help gain control over your anxiety, you should try noticing the feeling of your feet touching the ground when you walk or run. Pay attention to the beat of your heart or your breathing rhythm. Notice how the wind feels when it touches your skin. Adding mindfulness into your exercise regimen can really help you to release the anxiety from your mind. It can help you to gain control over your thoughts and bring more positive thoughts in, as well.

Getting Rid of Stress

Do you live with a lot of stress? If so, have you ever stopped to pay attention to how your body is feeling when you are stressed? If not, try to notice the way your muscles feel when you are stressed. Think about how your shoulders, neck, back, and face feel. Do you get headaches when you are stressed? If you notice that you have more muscle cramps, pain, stomachaches, and headaches when you are stressed, exercising could help to relieve some or all of these issues.

Research shows that exercising daily can help to relieve stress. In addition to releasing powerful endorphins in your brain, exercising can help relax your entire body. Not only can this help your mind to feel more at ease, but your body will do the same.

Managing ADHD

Regular exercise has shown to be one of the best ways to manage ADHD symptoms. If you suffer from ADHD, you know how difficult it can be to concentrate and get things done. However, with daily exercise, you could have better motivation, concentration, mood, and memory.

Research shows that exercising will increase the serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine levels in the brain. By doing this, the person is able to better pay attention and focus. For some people, exercising works just as well, if not better, than many of the ADHD medications.

Dealing with PTSD

If you suffer from PTSD, you know the toll it has taken on your life. You know that it can be tough to focus or get anything done. You might feel stuck in the past and feel immobilized. However, research has shown that you can relieve some of these issues through daily exercise. By exercising daily, you can move your body and focus your mind.

Walking, swimming, running, dancing, and weight training have all worked to help people with PTSD. Some other activities that might help to reduce your PTSD symptoms are skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and hiking.

Improved Thinking and Memory

Many people have difficulties with their thinking, They may easily become distracted or not be able to focus on one thought at a time. Other people don’t have that great of a memory. This could be caused by various things. However, research shows that the endorphins that are released during exercise can improve mental sharpness and concentration, both of which help to improve thinking and memory.

Better Self-Esteem

How do you feel about yourself at this very moment? How do you usually feel about yourself? There are millions of people who don’t have great self-esteem. If this is the case for you, it is time for you to improve the way that you view yourself. Exercising daily can help you reconfigure the way you view your body, mind, and soul. It can help you to see that you are worth everything and you are a wonderful person. Exercising daily can help you to improve your self-esteem.

Getting Better Quality Sleep

Millions of people don’t get enough quality sleep. They may only get a couple hours of sleep every night or may not even sleep every night. There are numerous medications that someone can try if they aren’t getting quality sleep. However, there is a natural option, as well. Exercising daily, usually before mid-afternoon, can help to improve your sleep schedule. It can help you to ease your mind and tire out your body, so you can get better quality sleep.

Boosting Your Energy Levels

If you don’t have enough energy to get you through every day, exercising daily can help. Many people think that exercising will only tire them out more. They might say they don’t have enough energy to exercise. However, research shows that exercising helps to boost heart rate which can give you the energy you need to get things done.

Building Your Resilience

Do you want to build your resilience? Exercising daily can help with this. Everyone is faced with challenges in their life. You might have emotional, mental, or even physical challenges that you are faced with. Instead of turning to negative coping mechanisms, turn to exercise. Exercising daily can help you to feel better about the situations that you are faced with. They can reduce the impact that stressful situations have on your life.

Conclusion

There are numerous things that can impact your mental health. Stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, low self-esteem, and many other things can cause you problems. However, there are always solutions. Yes, there are numerous medications that could help to solve these mental health issues. However, many of those have side effects that are sometimes worse than the original problem.

One of the natural options you have for stabilizing your mental health is daily exercise. You don’t have to become a gym and fitness addict to improve your mental health with exercise. You can do light to moderate exercise daily. Even 30 minutes of exercise, 5 days each week could be enough to improve your mental health state. If you aren’t feeling up to doing 30 minutes of exercise on any given day, remember that something is better than not exercising at all. If you can only get 10 or 15 minutes of exercise in, that is alright. Just commit to doing some physical activity daily. You don’t have to do the same exercises every day either. Some days you might want to go weight lifting at the gym and other days you might want to take a short walk around your neighborhood. Variety is good and it can keep you motivated.

Start adding exercise into your daily schedule to begin improving and stabilizing your mental health today.