Stress is an integral part of our lives. We as a human beings go through office stress, family stress, financial stress and social stress. All these stresses directly affect our mental well-being.
Exercising regularly has numerous benefits on physical health such as strengthening the muscles, bones, heart and lungs and helping to prevent certain diseases.
We often neglect the positive impact of exercising on our mental well-being. With regular exercise, one can fight anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
In this article, we discuss how exercise helps to improve your mental health.
How does exercise improve mental well-being?
Stress relief
Exercise helps to reduce stress by increasing happy hormones (dopamine, endorphin) and reducing stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline). For instance, you come from a stressful day at the office and decided to hit the gym, and suddenly you’ve felt a bit of relief. In addition to helping you cope with stress, exercise may also help you avoid it in the first place.
Improves confidence
A person who exercises regularly builds a positive personal image and improves self-confidence. The benefits of being physically active can help boost self-esteem and promote a healthy body image.
Improve mood
Regular exercise can help you to get an improved mood. Exercising regularly is associated with more positive thoughts and less negative thoughts. If you feel low, then you’re just one workout away from positive mood.
Promotes better sleep
Exercise can help you to improve your sleep quality. Several studies prove that regular exercise regardless of the type, can improve sleep efficiency and duration.
Anxiety and depression
Depression and anxiety are common mental health problems. Regular exercise leads to less depressive thoughts, higher self-esteem and better life satisfaction.
Conclusion
Mental well-being is equally important as our physical health. Mental well-being affects a huge number of the population worldwide. Medication and therapies are the most common treatments we use. Then why should we ignore exercising regularly? It eventually helps in lowering down medication and therapy.
Exercise releases the hormones that are good for good mental health and reduces stress hormones. Additionally, improved self-confidence, improved mood and better sleep quality are other advantages of working out regularly.
