I exercise…I am a strong proponent for exercise…It adds to a person’s quality of life, it makes you happy, it will also help you to focus during complicated times in your life. My wife Fairchild started me exercising with a trainer close to 10 years ago. Over the years, I’ve taken breaks from my trainer for months at a time, but have always come back after feeling out of shape.
During those trainer breaks, I would exercise on my own and stay in decent shape, but never as good as with the trainer. I learned most people will never push themselves as far as a good trainer will push them.
Exercise for a long time has been prescribed as an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, and a significant directive because 80% of U.S citizens are insufficiently active.
Past and previous research has revealed that regular workouts can help in lifting depression, and cardiovascular activities
Should we Substitute MH Meds for Exercise?
We already know exercise is essential for a healthy lifestyle; however, this research takes it to a whole different level.
Researchers at Vermont University believes that exercise should be appropriately prescribed for patients with mental health problems before prescribing psychiatric drugs for them.
In a study of about a hundred participants, 95% of patients with mental health issues started feeling better, while 63% reported feeling excited or very excited.
The researchers ended up suggesting that mental health facilities need to be built with equipment for exercise like gyms.
A different study at Vermont University Medical Center printed in the Journal Worldwide A
This study follows a growing recognition of the chronic problems related to SSRIs as well as other pharmacological interferences.
The effectiveness of antidepressants reduces over time, leaving the patients in worse conditions as they keep experiencing more side effects instead of benefits.
As recently reported by Jerome Groopman in the New Yorker, the psychiatry field has for long suffered antagonistic treatment since we don’t have any biology meant for mental sickness.
Papers on mental health are guesswork at best, more like art than science.
How Exercise can Benefit Mental Health
Most individuals go to the gym to enhance cardiovascular fitness, get a rocking body and of course build muscle; however, working out has other above-the-neck benefits as well.
For a while now, scientists have wondered how exercising can help in boosting brain function. Irrespective of fitness level or age, studies have revealed that making out time to exercise has some serious mental health benefits.
Get motivated to exercise more by reading these surprising ways that exercise and workouts can be beneficial to your mental health and lead to a happier and healthier life overall.
Improve Your Self-Confidence
Get on the treadmill to feel (and more importantly, look) like a million bucks. Physical fitness on a fundamental level can enhance confidence and self-esteem and also improve an individual’s positive self-image.
Irrespective of size, weight, age, or gender, exercise could rapidly elevate an individual’s perception of his/her attractiveness, i.e., self-worth.
Decreases Stress
Are you having a rough day at work? Take a walk or go to the gym for a quick workout.
One of the most typical mental health benefits of regular exercising is stress relief. Working out can assist in managing mental and physical stress.
Exercise also helps in increasing norepinephrine concentrations. Norepinephrine is a chemical which moderates the human brain’s response to stress.
Thus, it is essential you work out and get sweaty, as this will help in reducing stress and also boost the body’s capability to deal with mental tension.
Increases Relaxation
For most individuals, a moderate workout could be the equivalent of a right sleeping pill, even for those people with sleeping disorders.
Moving around four to six hours before going to bed helps in raising the body’s temperature.
Whenever the body temperature drops back to normal after a few hours, it sends signals to the body, that it is time to sleep.
Avert Cognitive Decline
It is unpleasant; however, it is true – as we grow older, our brains become weak.
As degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer destroy brain cells, noggin shrinks, thus making us lose several essential brain functions.
While a healthy diet and exercise cannot cure Alzheimer, they could assist in shoring up the brain to fight against all kinds of cognitive decline, which starts after 45.
Exercising and workout (specifically between the ages of 45 and 25, stimulate the chemicals within the brain that prevent the deterioration of hippocampus degeneration, an essential part of the brain which boosts memory and learning.
Ease Anxiety
Quick question and answer: a warm bubble bath or a 30-minute jog? You may be stunned at what the answer will be.
The fuzzy and warm chemicals which are released after and during exercise could assist individuals with anxiety.
Hopping on the treadmill or tracks for some mild-to-high amount aerobic exercise can ease and decrease anxiety sensitivity.
Inspire Others
Whether it is a pick-up soccer game, a run with a workmate, or a group class at the gym, exercise hardly happens in a bubble.
And that is excellent news for all of us. Research has revealed that most individuals perform better on aerobic tests, particularly when they have a workout mate.
Pin it to good old fashioned competition or inspiration, and nobody would want to let his/her partner down.
Being a member of a workout team can raise tolerance for pain. Even fitness amateurs can as well inspire each other to keep going during an exercise session, so it is relevant you find a workout partner and get moving!
Enhances Brainpower
Those buff laboratory rats may be smarter than we think. Different studies on men and mice have revealed that cardiovascular exercises could create brand new brain cells (also called neurogenesis) and enhance general brain performance.
Prepared to apply for the Nobel Prize? Scientists believe that serious workout boosts the levels of brain-derived proteins (BDNF) within the body, which assist in decision making, higher learning, and thinking.
Sharpen Memory
Regular exercise enhances our memory and our ability to learn and discover new things.
Exercising increases the production of cells within the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory as well as learning.
It is for this reason that, research has linked kid’s brain development with the level of physical fitness they get.
However, exercise-related brainpower isn’t only meant for kids. Even though it isn’t as fun as most kid’s games, exercising can help in boosting memory among adults, as well.
A study revealed that running improved vocabulary retention in healthy grown-ups.
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