Four Reasons Exercise Makes You Feel So Good
For this article let’s push aside the physical benefits that we know exercise provides (weight loss, longevity, increased stamina, etc) and focus on the mental health benefits. Here are four benefits that exercise provides that will help you live a healthier, happier life.
Boosts your energy. This is generally viewed as a physical benefit, and it is but the physical benefits lead to mental benefits. Exercising helps you have a more restful sleep which will help you feel mentally ready to face the day. You’ll notice that you can focus easier and not feel like your brain is all ‘foggy’.
Helps relieve stress. We all know that exercise releases endorphins which make us feel better. Aside from that, exercise can be used as a time of reflection giving us the time to think about our thoughts, problems and contemplate ways to solve issues. This time of reflection can help further ease a stressful life.
Improves self esteem. There’s no better way to boost your self esteem than accomplishing something. Once you’ve made it through a work out you will feel like you have accomplished something, thus boosting your self esteem. As a result of feeling like you’ve accomplished something you’ll be more likely to feel that you can accomplish more which will probably make you want to work out again! This is a great cycle to get into it.
Increased social interaction. Everyone needs to be social and have friends in order to lead a happy life. You might think that exercising isn’t exactly the time to be social but quite the contrary. In fact, if you work out a gym that’s the perfect place to meet new people and make friends. Or if you haven’t been able to meet up with an old friend for awhile why not schedule a walk or a run with them?
Many doctors and therapists recommend exercise as part of their treatment for depression and anxiety. Notice that both of these happen to be ‘mental’ illnesses so this just backs up my theory that exercise can be beneficial to your mental health as well!