Improve your Mind with Physical Exercise
We have all heard endlessly about the many benefits of exercise and why we need to do it. It will improve our lives, lengthen them, make us healthier, and so on. It also has many mental health benefits, of course. Those of us who are disinclined to exercise probably are not moved by these benefits, or we would already be doing it.
If you do exercise, there are strong reasons for you to consider doing it in the morning. Exercise releases endorphins and other feel-good hormones that lift the mood and improve happiness.
Studies show that this burst of mood-altering chemicals lasts almost 24 hours, which means exercising in the morning will make it last all day. Who knew a runner’s high was real and is stronger in the morning? Maybe that is why so many runners do their runs in the morning!
Exercising at any time also reduces the physical load of stress chemicals circulating in your body. It burns them out and leaves you feeling more relaxed and peaceful. That is a great way to begin your day and leads to better days overall.
The effect is cumulative as well. Exercising consistently leads to better baseline moods over the long run, even on days when you cannot exercise at all!
If you are not the exercise sort, reconsider because you do not have to become a gym rat to get these benefits. Nor do you need to begin your days with a five-mile run at your local park.
While aerobic exercise is the best for increasing positivity, any form of exercise will work. This includes low-impact forms of exercise such as walking, yoga, water aerobics, and tai chi. Even 15 minutes of gentle stretching will help you be more positive for the rest of the day.
Yoga and tai chi have additional benefits as well. They help control your mood better than most other forms of exercise. Likewise, they improve both physical and psychological markers of stress better than anything except intense aerobics and do so even in short sessions. A 10 or 15-minute session can do wonders for your health and mood.
If you are not used to exercising and want to introduce it to your routine, start slowly. Begin with simple low-impact exercises even if you want to move into aerobics. Always be sure to stretch before beginning. Finally, get permission from your doctor to begin exercising before you start.
