How can exercise improve mental health?

Excess stress can cause us to feel anxious, mentally drained and sometimes even depressed… and the kick in the teeth is that when we are feeling anxious, overly tired and depressed we lack the energy to get out of the cycle that unfortunately continues. However, regular exercise can effectively break this cycle that we may find ourselves in and more importantly can prevent us from feeling like this in the first place! 

As we know exercise improves our overall health and our perception of well-being, leaving us feeling good about day to day life. But as we have touched upon already, exercise also provides a list of direct stress-relieving benefits that can drastically improve our mental health.

Release of endorphins 

Physical activity will trigger the production of endorphins in our brain which are essentially feel-good signals. This is often referred to as the runner's high, but is not exclusive to running… any form of exercise will induce the release of endorphins, with the MegaBox circuit surely topping the leaderboard for the number of feel-good endorphins rushing around the brain per session (not scientifically proven - YET)!

It reduces negative effects of stress

Exercise can provide stress relief for our body while duplicating the effects of stress, such as our fight or flight response, and helping our body and its processes practice working together through those stress induced effects that we encounter during physical exercise. This can also lead to positive effects in our body - including improved cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems - by helping protect your body from the negative effects of stress.

It's a great distraction

After a good workout, we will most probably find that we have forgotten the day's stresses and we are then concentrated solely only on our body's movements and activity. As we start to regularly release our daily tensions through movement and physical activity, we may find that this focus on a single activity, and the resulting uplift of energy, can help us remain calm, clear and focused on maintaining a positive routine with less stress.

It improves our mood 

Exercising more often can increase self-confidence, help us relax, improve our mood and lower symptoms of depression and anxiety. Exercise can also significantly improve our sleep, which can often be disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All of these exercise benefits can ease our stress levels and give us a sense of empowerment over our body and our life!

So, our final message on the stress relieving benefits of exercise… in particular at MegaBox Fitness, is simply this:

DO STUFF, FEEL GREAT!!