Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress
By Mayo Clinic Staff
Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever.
Being active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from daily worries. Relieving Stress Through Exercise: Benefits Of Physical Activity For Mental Health.
You know that exercise does your body good, but you’re too busy and stressed to fit it into your routine. Hold on a second — there’s good news when it comes to exercise and stress.
Virtually any form of exercise, from aerobics to yoga, can act as a stress reliever.
If you’re not an athlete or even if you’re out of shape, you can still make a little exercise
will go a long way toward stress management. Discover the connection between exercise
& stress relief — and also why exercise should be part of your stress management plan.
The 20 Worst Habits That Are Destroying Your Heart (msn.com)
Exercise and stress relief
Exercise increases your overall health and your sense of well-being, which puts more
pep in your step every day. But exercise also has some direct stress-busting benefits.
It pumps up your endorphins. Physical activity may help bump up the production
of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner’s high, any aerobic activity, such as a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike, can contribute to this same feeling.
It reduces the negative effects of stress. Exercise can provide stress relief for your body while imitating effects of stress, such as the flight or fight response, and helping your body and its systems practice working together through those effects.
This can also lead to positive effects in your body — including your cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems — by also helping protect your body from the harmful
effects of stress.
It’s meditation in motion. After a fast-paced game of racquetball, a long walk or run, or several laps in the pool, you may often find that you’ve forgotten the day’s irritations and concentrated only on your body’s movements.
As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you stay calm, clear and focused in everything you do.
It improves your mood. Regular exercise can increase self-confidence, improve your mood, help you relax, and lower symptoms of mild depression and anxiety. Exercise can also improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All of these exercise benefits can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life. Heart Smart Plan | Cancer Quick Facts (solitarius.org)
Put exercise and stress relief to work for you
A successful exercise program begins with a few simple steps.
Consult with your doctor. If you haven’t exercised for some time or you have health concerns, you may want to talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.
Walk before you run. Build up your fitness level gradually.
Excitement about a new program can lead to overdoing it and possibly even injury.
For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. Examples of moderate aerobic activity include brisk walking or swimming, and vigorous aerobic activity can include running or biking. Greater amounts of exercise will provide even greater health benefits. Also, aim to do strength training exercises for all major muscle groups at least two times a week.
Do what you love. Almost any form of exercise or movement can increase your fitness level while decreasing your stress. The most important thing is to pick an activity that you enjoy. Examples include walking, stair climbing, jogging, dancing, bicycling, yoga, tai chi, gardening, weightlifting and swimming.
And remember, you don’t need to join a gym to get moving.
Take a walk with the dog, try body-weight exercises or do a yoga video at home.
Pencil it in. In your schedule, you may need to do a morning workout one day and an evening activity the next. But carving out some time to move every day helps you make your exercise program an ongoing priority. Aim to include exercise in your schedule throughout your week.
Starting an exercise program is just the first step. Just Stick with it.
Here are some tips for sticking with a new routine or refreshing a tired workout:
Set SMART goals. Write down SMART goals — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-limited goals.
If your primary goal is to reduce stress in your life, your specific goals might include committing to walking during your lunch hour three times a week. Or try online fitness videos at home. Or, if needed, find a babysitter to watch your children so that you can
slip away to attend a cycling class.
Find a friend. Knowing that someone is waiting for you to show up at the gym or the park can be a powerful incentive. Try making plans to meet friends for walks or workouts. Working out with a friend, co-worker or family member often brings a new level of motivation and commitment to your workouts. And friends can make exercising more fun!
Change up your routine. If you’ve always been a competitive runner, take a look at other, less competitive options that may help with stress reduction, such as Pilates or yoga classes. As an added bonus, these kinder, gentler workouts may enhance your running while also decreasing your stress.
Exercise in short bursts. Even brief bouts of physical activity offer benefits.
For instance, if you can’t fit in one 30-minute walk, try a few 10-minute walks instead.
Being active throughout the day can add up to provide health benefits. Take a mid-morning or afternoon break to move and stretch, go for a walk, or do some squats or pushups.
Interval training, which entails brief (60 to 90 seconds) bursts of intense activity at almost full effort, can be a safe, effective and efficient way of gaining many of the benefits of longer duration exercise.
What’s most important is making regular physical activity part of your lifestyle.
Whatever you do, don’t think of exercise as just one more thing on your to-do list.
Find an activity you enjoy — whether it’s an active tennis match or a meditative meander down to a local park and back — and make it part of your regular routine. Any form of physical activity can help you unwind and become an important part of your approach to easing stress. Relieving Stress Through Exercise: Benefits Of Physical Activity For Mental Health | BetterHelp
How to Use Exercise as a Stress Reliever
When you’ve been diagnosed with heart disease, you need to manage a number of new stressors on an ongoing basis. Dealing with more frequent doctor visits, getting used to new medical treatments, and adjusting to lifestyle changes are just some of the factors
that may cause you to experience stress and anxiety.
Fortunately, you can take some simple steps to help relieve stress. Many of those
steps can help improve your overall health as well, including the health of your heart.
Exercise is one of the best strategies for combating stress and managing heart disease.
Physical activity can help lower your overall stress levels and improve your quality of life, both mentally and physically. Exercising regularly can have a positive effect on your mood by relieving the tension, anxiety, anger, and mild depression that often go hand-in-hand with stress. It can improve the quality of your sleep, which can be negatively impacted by stress, depression, and anxiety. It can also help boost your confidence levels.
How Does Exercise Help With Stress?
Physical activity improves your body’s ability to use oxygen and also improves blood flow. Both of these changes have a direct effect on your brain. Exercise also increases your brain’s production of endorphins. Endorphins are the “feel-good” neurotransmitters that are responsible for the coveted “runner’s high.” This is the sense of well-being and euphoria that many people experience after exercise.
Physical activity can also help take your mind off your worries.
The repetitive motions involved in exercise promote a focus on your body, rather than your mind. By concentrating on the rhythm of your movements, you experience many of the same benefits of meditation while working out. Focusing on a single physical task can produce a sense of energy and optimism. This focus can help provide calmness and clarity.
Some people notice an improvement in their mood immediately after a workout.
Those feelings don’t end there, but generally become cumulative over time.
Chances are, you will notice increased feelings of well-being as you stay
committed to a consistent exercise routine.
In addition to having a direct effect on your stress levels, regular exercise also promotes optimum health in other ways. Improvements to your overall health may help indirectly moderate your stress levels. By improving your physical wellness and also heart health,
you will have less to feel stressed about.
Among some of its additional benefits, exercise can help:
strengthen your muscles and bones
strengthen your immunity, which can decrease your
risk of illness and infection
lower your blood pressure, sometimes as much as
some antihypertensive medications
boost levels of good cholesterol in your blood
improve your blood circulation.
improve your ability to control weight.
help you sleep better at night.
boost your energy.
improve your self-image.
How Much Exercise Do You Need?
The American Heart Association Trusted Source (AHA) recommends getting at least
150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week. They suggest breaking it down by tackling 30-minute workout sessions at least five days a week. If you’re short on time,
and can’t fit in a full 30-minute session, three 10-minute workouts have been shown to work almost as well as 30 minutes at once.
The AHA Trusted Source also encourages you to incorporate at least two sessions of muscle-strengthening activities into your weekly routine. You should give all your major muscle groups a good workout, including your arms, shoulders, chest, back, abdomen, legs, abdominals and other core muscles.
Be sure to build up your physical activity level gradually if you’re new to an exercise program. For example, your doctor might suggest you start with 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, three days a week, and increase gradually from there.
What Types of Exercise Help With Stress?
There are many ways to meet your weekly exercise targets.
What type of physical activity should you choose?
You don’t need to be a marathon runner or elite athlete to experience
stress relief from exercise. Almost any kind of exercise can be helpful.
For example, consider trying moderate aerobic exercises such as:
swimming or doing water aerobics.
playing tennis or racquetball
brisk walking or jogging
biking
dancing
rowing
When it comes to muscle-strengthening exercises,
consider trying weightlifting or activities with resistance bands.
Even something as simple as gardening or choosing to take the stairs
rather than the elevator can give you an emotional lift.
Any type of exercise can increase your fitness and decrease your stress.
However, it’s important to choose an activity that you enjoy rather than dread.
If you don’t like the water, don’t choose swimming as your activity. If the thought
of running makes you anxious, training for a 5K race won’t help relieve your stress.
Try a variety of activities until you find some you enjoy.
When you’re having fun, you’ll be more likely to stick with your workout routine.
Working out with someone else can also add to the stress-busting benefits of workout. Sharing it with family members or friends can make exercise feel more like fun and less like work.
Aging Boomers Say “Life Just Keeps Getting Better!” Here’s Their Top 12 Reasons Why.
5 Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease Most People Aren’t Aware of, Say Doctors (msn.com)
Humanity once came dangerously close to extinction, study suggests (msn.com)
Life’s Reality Check: 15 Aspects of Aging Nobody Prepares You For (msn.com)
These Small Life Changes Could Help You Live to 100 (msn.com)
8 Habits That May Add Decades to Your Life (msn.com)
I’m 113 and this is my secret to a long life (msn.com)