Some of the overlooked benefits of exercise include the mental health benefits that accompany a healthy and active lifestyle. Whether you run, walk, exercise, train, weight lift or play sports, the mental health benefits of being active are well documented.
The Fast Company recently published an article called: “3 Reasons Exercise Makes You Smarter” and explains that your brain is a part of your body. Your body works better with exercise–and, research suggests, so does your brain. Scientific American’s Justin Rhodes (assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois) reports: “A growing body of evidence suggests we think and learn better when we walk, jog, or otherwise workout”. According to these recent studies, exercise boosts your cognitive functioning and improves your memory. The keys include blood flow, your hippocampus (memory and learning elements in your brain) and creative habit.
According to the Scientific American study:
“The results were, in certain aspects, a surprise. As expected, many of the volunteers who’d been exercising for the past month significantly improved their scores on the memory and mood tests. But not all of them did. In general, those volunteers who had exercised for the past month and who worked out on the day of retesting performed the best on the memory exam. They also tended to report less anxiety than other volunteers.
Those who had exercised during the preceding month but not on the day of testing generally did better on the memory test than those who had been sedentary, but did not perform nearly as well as those who had worked out that morning.”
We’ve tried to summarize the top 12 mental health benefits of exercise in this infographic. Enjoy!
Exercise Will Make You Feel Better!
Exercising released endorphins, making you feel happy and positive about yourself. Don’t we all want that?
Exercise is an Overall Mood Booster!
Exercising regularly will release tension. This translates into solved problems with depression and stress.
Exercise Leads to Increased Confidence
When you exercise and relieve that tension while taking care of yourself, you can’t help but be proud of your accomplishments. You feel like a brand new you, and you know you look good doing so.
Exercise Helps Your Body Increase Pain Tolerance
Exercise can make you sore many times. At first it might be horrible, but after it happens a few times you learn to deal with it. This leads to an overall increase in your pain threshold.
Exercising Works To Improve Your Brain Power!
Exercise causes your body to create more brain cells and connections. This means your brain becomes more powerful and has a greater capacity for learning regardless of your age.
Exercise Improves Your Character
Sticking to an exercise routine will help you develop the qualities of discipline, dedication and determination.
Exercise Teaches Self Discipline
It also helps you develop the skills of compliance and adherence. These absolutely necessary life skills will have a positive effect in all areas of your life.
Exercise Can Help With Addiction Recovery
As mentioned above, exercise can help you to developer discipline. Overcoming addictions can become a lot easier when a workout routine is in place.
Exercise Also Combats Depression
Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain. Exercises induce “happy chemicals” to be produced more abundantly.
Fitness Reduces Anxiety
Using your energy in an effective way helps you to relax better.
Exercise Gives You ‘Runner’s High’
That’s right! Vigorous exercise can make you feel great!
Exercise Improves Concentration
Exercise can help boost your concentration and mental awareness.
