How exercise can help reduce stress
If you haven’t heard this before you have now. Exercise does help reduce stress. However what does this really mean? In this little blog today I talk about how exercise helps reduce stress and the types of exercise that can help.
Firstly, let’s talk about what stress is. Stress comes in different forms such as stress on your body and muscles as well as stress in the mind. It is often quickly related to what is going on around you. When your muscles are stressed or have been put under to much stress they become tight, which in turn can give you pain often in the neck or back. Most people refer to being stressed because of their mental state and again this is because we may be dealing with an uncomfortable situation or are having an abnormally busy week. This can then lead to us feeling symptoms like nausea, anxiety, mood changes, depression, and fatigue. Symptoms of stress are often temporary for most people and it has become well known that exercise can help relieve them. So what type of exercise is best and why?
There are many forms of exercise that you can do and the first thing to remember is to find something you know will be enjoyable because you don’t want to add any additional stress to your body. Aerobic exercise is probably the best kind of movement you can do as it not only works your heart it is also great for your mind. Think of the saying “I need to clear my head”, I know for me after I get back from a run that is exactly how I feel. When working out aerobically your body increases the amount of endorphins that are released and reduces the amount of cortisol (stress hormone) that is produced and therefore helps treat the mental symptoms I mentioned above. Understandably you may not get these feelings if you are new to exercise because you are going to be learning to adapt to how exercise feels physically and the first step is always the hardest. However you will begin to adapt & appreciate and finally realise the overall benefit exercise will do for you. Alongside this, when you begin to see results in your body from exercise, this also makes you feel happier because you are seeing change which is an indirect managing tool for stress.
Moving to physical stress. This can be caused by many factors including overtraining. It’s important to understand that we don’t want to over do it with our exercise because this can then have the opposite effect on your body. The way I like to look at it is that it’s like a little bit of give and take. Exercise does put stress on your muscles (hence making them tight) but, by placing temporary stress on your muscles you are relieving mental stress which is vital. The way to avoid overtraining and to relieve muscular stress is to take part in other exercises like Yoga and stretching routines. This helps loosen up the muscles and allows you to feel better next time you workout, plus you also get the added bonus of learning breathing techniques which are key for mindfulness also!
In summary exercise as we know is important for many aspects of our lives, and reducing or managing stress is just one way it helps us. Understanding what causes your stress by what is going on around you is just as important so you can work on addressing this to help live a stress free life!
If you’re looking for a fun way to get started on your fitness journey come and try any of our sessions including yoga. You’ll most definitely feel the benefits mentioned above when you train with us. Contact us here for a FREE Trial.
When researching for this blog this article was great inspiration. Read it here: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax