Exercise and Mental Health

Exercise has a wealth of benefits. We all know how good it is for our physical health, but it’s also wonderful for your mental health. Inside the brain, exercise stimulates mood-boosting chemicals that make you feel good and also improve parts of the brain responsible for memory and learning.

The benefits of exercise

Exercise can make you feel better, even if you don’t think there’s anything wrong.

Exercise can lower the risk of some diseases such as:

Dementia

Cancer

Diabetes

Heart Disease

Lung Disease

Obesity

High Blood Pressure

Parkinson’s

Exercise also assists those recovering from strokes and a variety of other diseases and conditions.

Exercise also plays an important part in losing weight if you want to, which is beneficial for your overall health and may be good for you mentally too. Consider joining a Gym Dublin, like https://southsidegym.ie/

Mental health benefits of exercise

Exercise makes you feel good because it releases chemicals such as endorphins and serotonin, which improves mood. It can also encourage you to get out about in the world, helping to reduce the feeling of loneliness and isolation, and put you in touch with others.

When exercising regularly, you’ll be able to reduce your stress levels and possible symptoms of mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, and aid recovery from mental health problems.

Exercise also helps improve your sleep, which is important in a variety of ways.

Exercise and mind

Exercise pumps blood to the brain, which is supposed to make you think more clearly.

This increases the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory.

It also improves the links between nerve cells inside your brain. This improves your memory and keeps your brain in better shape against injury and illness.

How much exercise do you need?

Government guidelines suggest that adults do at least 30 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity on most or all days of the week. You can make up 30 minutes during the day by engaging in shorter sessions of maybe 10-15 minutes each.

Practicing mindfulness while doing exercises also reduce your stress and improves your mental health.

If money is a worry, think about a local community centre, which often have affordable sports groups. And if you have private health insurance, you may get help for a gym membership as part of a mental health care plan.

You might struggle to find the motivation, or stay motivated to exercise. Think about how you can integrate exercise into your daily routine and lifestyle. Try to pick an activity you will enjoy and ask your friends or family to help motivate you and to keep you on track.

If you’re a dog owner, use the opportunity to take them out for long walks around your neighbourhood.

Combine your exercise routine with a healthy diet to improve the motivation and energy to exercise.