5 Mental Health Benefits of Exercise

And simple ways to start your exercise journey.

We all know exercising is good for our body physically, but we often neglect the benefits it gives our mind. There are dozens of positive effects exercise can do for our mental health.

If anyone has seen Reese Witherspoon’s movie Legally Blonde, you might already know this. As her character famously says; “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”

As someone who spends about 15 hours a week exercising, I can attest to these. I always feel better after I’ve finished a hard workout. The good thing is, you do not need to be spending that much time exercising to reap the benefits. Studies show that you only need about 30 minutes of moderate activity three times a week. Even better, you don’t need to do those 30 minutes all at once. Breaking it up into 10-minute blocks will be less daunting for beginners, while still getting the same rewards.

1. Stress relief

Exercise puts your body through physical stress. Although it might seem counterintuitive, that physical stress helps manage your overall stress. Your body first might experience a stress response spike due to exercise, but over time it actually lowers certain stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine according to research done by Anthony C Hackney. Increased heart rate also helps produce norepinephrine, which improves cognition, mood, and helps clear your mind. According to the Mayo Clinic, it can also improve depression and anxiety symptoms. Besides all the chemical changes exercise makes in your brain, it also offers as a great distraction. It can help end the cycle of negative thoughts and give your brain a break.

2. More energy

Expanding energy through exercise can actually give you more energy in the long run. Researcher Patrick O’Connor, PhD, says that although exercise might be the last thing you want to do when you are feeling fatigued, it will help. So instead of pouring yourself another cup of coffee, going for a short run might be a more effective solution. There is a reason why cancer patients are encouraged to exercise. It helps them decrease the fatigue they get from their treatments. Exercise increases their energy levels, while resting too much will just make the cancer patients even more fatigued. Exercise also delivers more oxygen to the rest of your body, making your body run more efficiently.

3. Improves sleep

Sleep is very important for your mental health. According to research done by Christopher E. Kline, PhD, exercise improved insomnia patients sleep quality while also decreasing their daytime sleepiness. Exercise increases your body temperature which has calming effects on the mind and triggers drowsiness by the time night rolls around. Exercise also reduces sleep apnea due to the physical benefits of exercise, like having lower body max index. It is important to remember not to exercise right before bed though.

4. Increases self-esteem

This is one of the greatest benefits of exercise. Exercising is hard. That feeling of accomplishment after a great workout or new personal best will definitely boost your confidence and make you feel better about yourself. Setting exercise goals and being able to achieve them will give you more self-worth. Regular exercise will also help improve your body image. Plus, seeing the physical changes in your body, like building more muscle, will give you confidence that what you are doing is working.

5. Improves memory

By now we know that exercise affects our brain. Exercise strengthens the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning. As we age into late adulthood, our hippocampus shrinks, which can lead to an increased risk of dementia. A study was done on 120 older adults, and those who exercised were able to increase the size of their anterior hippocampus. This led to improvements in their spatial memory. It was able to reverse age-related loss by one to two years just during the period of this study.

So how do you get started when it comes to exercise?

Like I mentioned earlier, it doesn't take much to see the rewards of exercise on your mental health. You do not need to start training for a marathon. You do not need an expensive gym membership. You don’t even need any equipment. As Nike founder Bill Bowerman said, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” All you need is yourself to get started!

The simplest and easiest way to start exercising is to start walking. Walking at a moderate pace is a great way to get started if you are starting from zero. It is easy on the body, you can do it anywhere, it’s free, and can still give you a good workout. Going on a few walks a week is all you need to receive the benefits listed above, that sounds easy!

If you want more of a challenge, running is another great option. It is my personal favorite. Like walking, it’s free and you can do it anywhere. Running really helps me clear my mind and once you get in shape, it feels amazing too. It can be discouraging at the beginning because it is pretty hard. Start small, run a short distance, and at a slow pace. Alternating between running and walking is another good solution. Eventually, your endurance will build up and you can start increasing your pace or add in some hills.

At home workouts using your body weight is an effective way to get your heart rate up without even having to leave your living room. Just because you aren’t using weights doesn’t mean it’s not a good workout. These workouts can be very challenging. Exercises like lunges, push-ups, and squats are all great examples of challenging bodyweight exercises. There are a lot of resources on the internet that will give you a good routine to follow, like YouTube videos and free exercise apps.

Even if you have a busy schedule, fitting in a thirty-minute workout shouldn’t be too hard and you will be so thankful once you feel the benefits.