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De Stress with Exercise
By Dr Lee Naylor
The physiological
benefits of exercise aren’t limited to the physical improvements they
evoke, they also involve emotional affects. It’s hard to imagine that
doing something physical could relieve you so much mentally and
emotionally.
Exercise’s psychological properties are seldom
acknowledged. Exercise effectively manages stress, anxiety, depression
and the benefits accrue after several weeks and months.
Exercise influences self esteem, acute and chronic
anxiety, your mood state and your self confidence all in a positive
way. Now if you see the glass half full you’ll be excited at the
prospect of killing two birds with one stone. If you’re finding
yourself a little out of shape and stressed you can just get out and
exercise and eliminate these negative physical and emotional
manifestations. Executives and people in high stressed jobs may
actually find the psychological benefits out way the physical benefits.
Interesting facts to know about exercise and its psychological benefits:
- Can greatly reduce the risk of clinical depression.
- Can be a form of catharsis – release mental stress physically.
- Increase physique self esteem and confidence.
- Increase self efficacy – belief and expectation in abilities.
- Decrease chance of mental illnesses.
- Increased positive moods and abilities to handle stress.
Now most of these benefits are provoked through the release of
chemical in the body and are not noticed until some time after the
exercise has been performed. The underlying theories as to why these
changes come about are uncertain.
There are predominant theories explaining the psychological changes:
- Anthropological Theory: Physical activity is a natural part of being human. There is a correlation between the levels of depression and the level of sedentary lifestyle over time.
- Endorphin Theory: Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. Endorphins are released during exercise changing our biochemistry making us feel better.
- Serotonin and Norepinephrine Hypothesis – These chemicals alter emotions. They are released when you exercise. This could explain the increase in positive mood affect.
- Mastery / Physical Self Efficacy Hypothesis – Exercise creates a sense of accomplishment or mastery upon completion. This increases the persons self efficacy.
- Social Interaction Hypothesis – People tend to exercise in groups. It’s thought that people will use this time to socially interact reducing the risk of depression.
- Distraction / Time out Hypothesis – Exercise provides an opportunity to ‘zone out’ sources of stress and unpleasant emotions. The exerciser becomes mentally occupied allowing them to relax.