The Mental Health Benefits of Working Out – Exercise, An Anti-Depressant?

Introduction:

It’s no secret that working out is beneficial for our health. Most people associate working out with physical health benefits, but exercising is equally, if not more, beneficial for our mental health. Researchers have found exercising for around 3 hours a week can help keep mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety at bay.

As per a study, over half of the Australian population would suffer from some or the other mental health issue in their lifetime. Working out doesn’t cure depression and anxiety, but it certainly can ease the symptoms, if any, or keep the disorder from aggravating.

This is particularly true for people suffering from low to mild levels of depression. For cases of severe mental health disorders, medications are essential.



Working out is regarded as one of the most effective yet underused anti-depressants. Not working out or stressing the importance of exercise in your life is like looking for a solution all-around when it’s right there in front of you.

Mental Health Benefits Offered by Regular Workouts

Exercise should be looked at holistically. It is because it doesn’t only help improve your strength, stamina, immune system, sleep cycle, etc., but it positively impacts your mental health.

People who work out regularly know well they are not only doing it for gains, muscles, and strength but also for the enormous sense of well-being staying active offers. It helps the person sleep better, gain clarity in thinking, improve memory, and feel positive.

Moreover, exercising improves our immune system drastically, keeping common physical and mental health ailments at safe distance.

First thing first, working out helps relieve stress, boost mood, and improve sleep quality. You don’t have to hit the gym six days a week to reap these benefits offered by work out.

Spending even 30-40 minutes every other day exercising can profoundly impact your mental health, improving your mental health capability to fight anxiety, depression, and ADHD.



Irrespective of your fitness level or age, you can use exercising regularly as a tool to deal with mental health disorders, relieve stress, boost your mood, improve your outlook, and maximise your life output.

Exercise & Depression

Studies have proved exercising can work as well as anti-depressants to treat mild to moderate depression – without causing any side effects.

A recent study conducted by Harvard showed that running for just fifteen minutes or walking for an hour a day reduces the chances of severe depression by nearly 26 percent. Not only can work out keep depression from surfacing but maintaining a workout schedule helps keep you from relapsing.

So, what makes exercise such a potent anti-depressant? It is because working out reduces inflammation in the body, boosts brain activity, promotes neural growth, and helps induce the feeling of calm.

Moreover, working out releases dopamine and endorphins, feel-good chemicals that energize your mind and make you feel good.

Exercise & Anxiety

Just like exercise is a natural anti-depressant, it is also an effective anti-anxiety treatment. Exercising promotes overall well-being and boosts confidence, partially due to the release of endorphins in the body.

In short, any form of physical activity helps, but it is essential to have an exercise schedule and stay consistent rather than zoning out.

Adding an element of mindfulness by improving breathing through meditation and Yoga can also prove to be a blessing.

Exercising helps you stay mentally active, crucial to focusing on the present and keeping worries away. Reducing stress is crucial to safeguard against anxiety, improving physical well-being, and promoting a positive outlook.

Exercise & Stress

Stress is linked to numerous physical health ailments and mental health problems. When you are overwhelmed with stress, you may feel pain and discomfort in the neck, shoulders, and back and suffer from headaches.

Stress is also associated with muscle cramps, increased heartbeat, diarrhoea, insomnia, frequent urination, stomach ache, indigestion, confusion, negative thoughts, and more.

Physical discomfort caused by these symptoms can add to your stress, creating a vicious cycle. If this cycle is not broken, it tends to add layers of worries transforming into stress disorders, anxiety, and depression.

Exercise helps with breaking this cycle effectively by relaxing muscles, enhancing biological functions, relieving body tension, promoting overall well-being. Stress is automatically reduced when your mind and body feel relaxed and energised by working out.

Exercise & ADHD

Working out is the most effective way to combat ADHD and eliminating its symptoms. How? Exercising helps sharpen memory, improve concentration, boost mood, and bolster motivation.

Working out elevates a sense of well-being by enhancing serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels in the body, affecting attention and focus positively.



Working out regularly works the same way as common ADHD medications but consult with your therapist before making clinical decisions about medications.

Exercise & PTSD/Trauma

Evidence from various researches has proved that by experiencing the positive effects of working out, the nervous system can escape the immobilisation stress response experienced during PTSD or Trauma.

When you feel the movements in your body while working out, the physical sensations help keep your mind from wandering too much or getting zoned out into the dark.

Exercises such as swimming, running, jogging, dancing, weight training, HIIT, etc., help with combating symptoms of PTSD and Trauma.



Other outdoor activities like rafting, skiing, mountain biking, hiking, sailing, trekking are also known to help fight PTSD.

Some Other Mental Health Benefits of Exercising Includes –

• Sharper Memory
• Boost in Confidence
• Better Sleep (Higher REM Sleep)
• More Energy
• Stronger Will Power & Resilience
• Promotes Social Interaction
• Act as Healthy Coping Mechanism
  

Best Exercises to Positively Influence Mental Health

Physical activity in any form is instrumental in improving physical and mental health. However, a few common exercises help effectively relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. These exercises include –

• Yoga
• Meditation
• Running
• Tai Chi
• Strength Training
• Endurance Training
• Aerobic Exercises – Jogging, Spinning, Rowing, Biking, using Elliptical Trainer, etc.
• Swimming
  

FAQs

Summary of Mental Health and Physical Workouts

Working out stimulates your brain and sharpens your memory while refining and toning your body, strength, and stamina. The physical and mental health benefits of exercising are too many to ignore.



The importance of working out should be taken seriously by people of all age groups, irrespective of whether they’re suffering from mental health issues or not. It’s important to stay active physically to keep pushing the limits of your mind and body, which is the key to staying fit, agile, and positive.