Exercise benefits extend beyond greater muscle mass and cardiac fitness believes Mr Yash Birla. You can improve your physical health and physique, lose belly fat, improve your sex life, and even live longer by exercising. But most people aren’t motivated to continue exercising by that.

Mr Yash Birla regularly exercises because it makes him feel fantastic. He has more energy throughout the day, has better sleep at night, and feels more at ease and enthusiastic about his life. It’s also a potent remedy for many common mental health issues. Mr Yash Birla says that fitness is not just a physical game, it is a mental one also. In this article, we are going to look at the mental health benefits of exercise.

Regular exercise can considerably lessen sadness, anxiety, and ADHD symptoms. Additionally, it lowers stress, enhances memory, promotes sound sleep, and uplifts your mood in general. You can benefit from it even if you don’t exercise frequently. According to research, even modest quantities of exercise can have a significant effect. You may learn to use exercise as a potent tool to manage mental health issues, enhance your energy and outlook, and get more out of life regardless of your age or fitness level, believes Mr Yash Birla.

Here are the 5 mental health benefits of exercise

  • Exercise and depression

Exercise has been shown in studies to be an effective treatment for mild to severe depression—without the negative side effects, of course. According to a study, daily exercise can minimise the symptoms of sadness and help people avoid relapsing.

Exercise is a highly effective depression combatant for a variety of reasons. Most significantly, it encourages a variety of mental changes, including neuronal development, decreased inflammation, and new activity patterns that foster emotions of peace and well-being. It also results in the production of endorphins, potent brain chemicals that elevate mood and make you feel cheerful, says Mr Birla. Last but not least, exercise can work as a diversion, enabling you to find some quiet time to end the vicious loop of pessimistic thoughts that fuel sadness.

  • Exercise and anxiety

An efficient and all-natural anxiety cure is exercise, states the fitness icon. Endorphins are released, which improves well-being by reducing tension and stress and boosting physical and mental vitality. Any workout that keeps you moving could be beneficial, but you’ll get more out of it if you focus instead of becoming sidetracked.

Try to pay attention to small details like the sound of your feet hitting the ground, the pattern of your breathing, or the touch of the wind on your skin. By implementing this mindfulness exercise into your workouts—really paying attention to your body and how it feels—you’ll not only be in better physical shape more quickly, but you might also be able to halt the continual stream of worries that are running through your thoughts, explains Yash Birla.

  • Exercise and stress

Have you ever thought about the effects stress has on your body? Your stiff muscles, particularly those in your face, neck, and shoulders, maybe the cause of your back pain, neck discomfort, or excruciating headaches. Muscle cramps, heart palpitations, and tightness in the chest are all potential signs. In addition to these issues, you may also suffer from frequent urination, diarrhoea, indigestion, stomachaches, and insomnia. All of these bodily feelings have the potential to produce tension and worry, which can set off a vicious loop between your mind and body and result in further stress.

Exercise is a powerful method for changing this behaviour, says Yash Birla. Exercise helps release body tension and relax muscles in addition to producing endorphins in the brain. 

  • Exercise and ADHD

Regular exercise is one of the simplest and most efficient strategies to lessen ADHD symptoms and enhance focus, motivation, memory, and mood. Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels in the brain are all rapidly increased by physical exercise, which has an impact on focus and attention.

  • Exercise and PTSD and trauma

There is evidence that says exercising while really paying attention to your body and how it feels can assist your nervous system to become “unstuck” and start to emerge from the immobility stress reaction that characterises PTSD or trauma. Instead of letting your thoughts wander, concentrate on the physical sensations your joints, muscles, and even your internal organs are experiencing as you move your body. Some of your greatest options are cross-movement exercises that use both your arms and legs, such as walking (particularly in sand), running, swimming, weight training, or dancing.

PTSD symptoms have also been demonstrated to improve with outdoor pursuits like hiking, sailing, mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and skiing (both cross-country and downhill).