Exercise your way to good mental health!

If you think of exercise as a 60-minute commitment 3 times a week at the gym, you're missing the point completely. If you think that going on a diet has something to do with nutrition, you don't see the forest through the trees. It is a lifestyle. I know it sounds cliché, but you have to find things you love to do.

Brett Hoebel

A few weeks ago, I wrote about two celebrities who were actively breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health by openly talking about their own personal demons and the life struggles they’ve faced over several months and years. The two individuals I identified were both world class athletes, Col Dame Kelly Holmes and Rebecca Adlington, this begs the question; can exercise and remaining physically fit have a positive impact on your mental health?

The answer is undoubtedly yes!

A good workout doesn’t just benefit your physical fitness. Exercise also has a positive effect on mental health, providing benefits that range from improving sleep to easing anxiety.

Research strongly suggests that exercise is beneficial for everyone’s mental health, whether or not they suffer from mental illness. For those with conditions such as anxiety or mood disorders, studies have proposed that exercise can improve overall mental wellbeing.

As some of you know, I went through a particularly dark period in my life, I became withdrawn, irritable, I couldn’t focus or concentrate on anything and I actually became quite reckless. I let it fester and eventually I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Recognising I had a problem was a major factor in my road to recovery and as part of that journey, exercise played a significant role!

I found exercise was, and still is amazingly beneficial both as a way to fight off the symptoms of depression but equally importantly, as something that became a permanent part of my life, a way to prevent a mental illness from coming back.

Exercise can help address a range of mental health symptoms, but the strongest research supports its benefits for depression and anxiety. Evidence has suggested that aerobic exercise – exercise that raises the heart rate, such as brisk walking, biking, running, or swimming – can be as effective as medication in treating mild to moderate depression.

I’m no expert however, a little research confirms that exercise actually increases serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that’s often deficient in people who have depression or anxiety. So, it does exactly the same thing a medication does: it increases the body’s natural happy chemicals!

People who have symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) struggle with mood symptoms related to the lack of sunlight in the autumn and winter months. Combining exercise with natural light can be helpful. It’s why during the winter months, whenever the weather allows it, I love to go up onto the common for a quick 5k. Other research suggests that participation in team sports or exercising with someone else, boosts your mental health even further than exercising alone, hence my reputation amongst my friends as the nagging gym bunny!

My biggest problem in the early days was motivation. The symptoms of depression sometimes make it very difficult to actually get off your arse and do something about it!

Having recognised I had a problem I actively engaged with a very good counsellor and was prescribed at the time an antidepressant called Sertraline, I’m not a huge fan of taking any drugs but if I’m honest I genuinely believe taking this drug at this time helped me out of the darkness. Equally I believe exercise allowed me to come off the Sertraline much quicker.

The other thing I had in my favour was a very strong network of the best friends anyone could wish for. Even the non-gym bunnies helped me get out and get active. One of my friends read that yoga was a great way of exercising, she’d never done it before but encouraged me to join her at a beginner’s class. We both loved it and both still have it in our lives, she actually went on to become a yoga instructor!

Never underestimate the power of positive peer pressure!

Good mental health is important for everyone, even if you don’t have a mental health condition. As suggested earlier, some of the benefits of exercise include better sleep, improved memory and higher energy levels, which all influence how people feel day to day. I can testify anecdotally that all these things are true.

Your mental health should never be taken for granted, exercise should be seen as a key element of your day to day routine, although the research evidence supports doing exercise that gets your heart rate up and increases your breathing rate for mental health benefits, it’s commonly believed that there’s really no such thing as bad exercise as long as it’s done in moderation.

I personally can’t emphasise enough the importance of exercise for managing physical health, stress management, and treating your mental health – make your mental health a priority in your life and get out there and get active!

What’s on this week?