Exercise is great for the body, everyone knows that! But exercise is also great for the mind too, and regular exercise really can help you deal with a number of mental health challenges including trauma, depression, anxiety and stress. Exercise can also reduce the symptoms of ADHD and PTSD by improving your ability to focus, concentrate and set goals, as well as improving motivation, memory, and mood. No matter your age or fitness level, exercising regularly gives you an enormous sense of well-being, and is a powerful therapy for many common mental health challenges.

Exercise and Anxiety

Through the release of endorphins, exercise is an effective therapy for anxiety. It helps relieves tension and stress, boosts positive physical and mental energy, and enhances well-being. By focusing on exercising, you’ll not only improve your physical condition but you may also be able to interrupt the flow of negativity and the worries that are causing your anxiety.

Exercise and Depression

There are a number of studies that show that even a modest amount of regular exercise can often treat mild to moderate depression as effectively as antidepressant medication - but without the side-effects - and maintaining an exercise schedule can prevent you from relapsing. One study shows that walking for just an hour, three or four times a week, can reduce the risk of major depression by up to 26%. Exercise promotes new activity patterns in the brain that increases feelings of calm and well-being, and helps you break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that feed depression.

Exercise and ADHD

Exercising regularly is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce the symptoms of ADHD. Physical activity immediately boosts the brain’s dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels, all of which affect focus and attention. In this way, exercise works in much the same way as a number of ADHD medications but again, without the side-effects.

Exercise and Stress

When you’re under stress or feel stressed, your neck and shoulder muscles may be tense, you could have back or neck pain, twitches and tics, or painful headaches. You may feel a tightness in your chest and a pounding pulse, heartburn, stomach-ache or diarrhoea. Stress also causes insomnia and can significantly impact normal sleeping patterns. Exercising is an effective way to break many of these symptoms caused by stress. Because the body and mind are closely linked, when you exercise your body feels better so, too, will your mind.

Exercise and PTSD and Trauma

By really focusing on your body as you exercise, and by paying close attention to the physical sensations in your joints and muscles as you workout, you can actually start to move out of the immobilization stress response that characterizes PTSD or trauma. Exercises that are particularly good for PTSD and trauma are those that require you to simultaneously focus on both arm and leg movement such as weight training, hiking, mountain biking, running (or speed walking) and swimming.

No matter what your age, gender, level of fitness, or the mental health challenges you may be facing, regular exercise can and will have a profoundly positive impact on your mental health. And you don’t have to be a fitness fanatic to reap the benefits; even modest amounts of exercise can make a real difference! Contact me for more advice! 

Contact me for further advice, or to help and support you as you start your journey to positive mental health through exercising.