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Participating in regular exercise has many beneficial
effects for our general well-being. Partaking in exercise not only makes us
healthier and fitter individuals, it also has positive effects on our mental
health and our general state of positivity. Much has been said of the physical benefits
of exercise, and it seems that it is on this that the focus of most information
on exercise rests. Exercise plays an extremely vital role on a person’s general
state of mental well-being also. Exercise can help to stimulate the areas of our
brain that aren’t as responsive when we are feeling depressed. It also promotes the release of feel-good
chemicals into our brains, which can take the focus away from our worries and
also has the ability to improve our confidence.
Regular exercise-goers have long known of the ‘high’
associated with exercise - that feeling of satisfaction of having completed a
session at the gym and the riding of the wave of contentedness that follows. This particular
feeling is called a ‘runner’s high’, which can be a bit misleading because
running is just one form of exercise where this feeling is prevalent. Weight-training,
aerobic activity or any form of prolonged physical activity is where these
mental health benefits can be found. The point is not the type of exercise that
you are doing, but whether you are doing it! Research findings on exercise have
found that 20-40 minutes of aerobic activity are all it takes to see improvements
in our state of anxiety and our mood levels. Furthermore, it has been found
that the psychological benefits of prolonged exercise programmes are comparable
to gains found in forms of psychotherapy.
This ‘high’ is actually the culmination of a complex chemical process occurring in your brain. What is actually occurring is the release of a chemical messenger called Endorphins. Endorphins are a type of neurotransmitter which help relieve pain and stress. Endorphins are only one type of neurotransmitter that is released when we exercise. Exercise also stimulates the release of the chemical messengers such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. All of these chemical messengers play a part in regulating our moods, and are commonly known as 'feel-good' chemicals.
The roles of these chemical messengers are all fairly similar,
with the main role of them being to mediate pleasure in the brain. They are
released during pleasurable situations and cause us to actively seek out these
type of situations. This could be why exercise-goers make it a regular part of
their day or week, because on a sub-conscious level they are actually wanting
to find this ‘high’ again. One of the major mood-enhancing chemical messengers
in the brain is Serotonin. Regular exercise positively impacts the serotonin levels
in our brain, raising serotonin levels boosts our mood and our sense of
well-being. If these weren’t enough to get you exercising, serotonin also plays
a part in improving our appetite and our sleep-cycles. This means no over-eating
or insomnia!
Depression is a big problem in our country and it affects
many people. This mood disorder can cause persistent feelings of apathy, lethargy
and sadness. It can be attributed to our brain chemistry as to why we feel this
way, so it stands to reason that if we positively and naturally alter our brain
chemistry, we can lessen or even eradicate our state of depression. Exercise can help relieve these symptoms of
depression by the release of these particular neurotransmitters. If you think
you have depression or any mental health problems, speak to you doctor first,
but you can take proactive steps to reclaiming your own physical and mental
well-being through regular exercise.
Ben.
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