Tiring work day, endless tasks, relationship problems, and health concerns – an average person today handles almost all of it every day. Of course, stress has become an unavoidable part of our lives. And yet, after you return from work or even if you are mentally tired, you sit on the couch, scroll through social media, and sleep.
What if we told you that some movement can help you counter stress more than you thought?
Indeed exercise, apart from physical fitness, is a game changer for managing stress. Here’s how!
Exercise boosts endorphin production
One of the most immediate benefits of exercising is its ability to make you feel good. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins (or the feel-good hormones). Endorphins are neurotransmitters responsible for elevating mood and act as natural painkillers too. So, when you indulge in physical activities like running, jogging, swimming, dancing, yoga, etc, your body releases endorphins which counteract negative emotions, relieve stress, and help you feel more relaxed.
Reduces Stress hormones
Exercise is known for its ability to regulate hormones and is not limited to endorphins alone. When you start exercising, your body starts balancing your hormone levels, including cortisol and adrenaline. High levels of hormones like cortisol can lead to anxiety, weight gain, fatigue, etc, and with regular physical activity, you can keep them in check. This leads to effective monitoring and managing of hormones and relieving stress.
Improves sleep quality
Stress often disrupts your mood, temperament, and sleep. When you haven’t slept well, it can lead to further heightened feelings of stress, anxiety, etc. This vicious cycle can be broken by exercising regularly. Moderate to vigorous exercising daily can help you sweat out your stress, release dopamine and serotonin (the happy hormones), and thus relax your body for better sleep. When you exercise at least 30-45 minutes a day, you tend to get deeper and more relaxing sleep at night.
Movement is medicine
Most of the health concerns today arise due to inactive or sedentary lifestyles, bad food habits, or lack of exercise. Our daily stress isn't just limited to our thoughts it translates into physiological changes that can be best dealt with when you exercise. Exercising daily can counter the effects of stress on your body and help you clear your mind, making it work like medicine for your physical as well as mental health.
Changes the way you deal with problems
Exercising regularly be it weight lifting, yoga, or running, helps you immerse into a workout and shift your focus from daily worries to happiness. This shift from focusing on your daily problems, overthinking, stressing, etc to solution-finding, calculated approach, and mindfulness helps you clear your mind and take a break from stress. Activities like yoga, pilates, etc can inculcate exercises like deep breathing, meditation, etc which can be effective in helping you focus on the present, stay calm, and handle problems with a positive mindset.
Boosts confidence and self-esteem
Regular exercise contributes to physical fitness and mental clarity which can positively impact how you perceive yourself. Achieving your fitness goals doesn’t just make you physically look good but also leads you to feel confident about your appearance, take on new challenges, and have a stress-free and positive approach to life.
Helps you channel your inner feelings
Exercise can be looked at as a constructive way to channel your feelings. If you have been holding up on your anger, frustration, pain, or aggression, exercises can be a healthy outlet for you to release pent-up energy. Exercises like HIIT, Boxing, running, etc can help you take out your inner feelings in a healthy way and leave you feeling better about yourself. This also helps you clear your mind, experience relief, and approach your problems from a fresh and renewed perspective.
Builds social connections
You can choose to exercise alone at home, or go to the gym and connect with other fitness enthusiasts to bond over fitness. Join a group fitness class, play team sports, or join running clubs to meet like-minded people, take inspiration from them, connect with them, and make a network a valuable part of your life. Exercise helps you build social connections and these connections can act as stress relievers. Social connections don’t just keep you accountable and going in your fitness journey but also serve as positive motivation, boost confidence, and relieve stress.
Improves stress resilience
Regular exercise doesn’t just help you counter stress but also helps you build resilience to stress. By consistently challenging your body physically and mentally, you end up creating a mindset for you to be tough against problems and handle them with an enhanced resilience to stress. As a result, exercise helps you cope with the challenges and adapt to stressful environments without having to feel overwhelmed or stressed out. This renewed habit stays with you for life.
RightLife App: Exercise as a way to relieve stress
RightLife is a holistic health app that helps you take charge of your health sustainably and healthily. Instead of just focusing on stress and techniques to relieve stress temporarily, the RightLife app helps you inculcate habits that help you foster resilience to stress. The RightLife app through its MoveRight module recommends exercises that are best suited for your lifestyle, habits, health concerns, and lifestyle to help you build the habit of exercising and experience the stress relieving benefits of it. Moreover, the app also suggests simple stress relief practices like meditation, yoga, positive affirmations, better sleep, etc that can help you find temporary relief from stress.
Exercise is more than just a tool for physical fitness – it can be a powerful ally to counter stress. As you make exercise a regular part of your life, you can reap the benefits of it to improve your mental health and emotional well-being, boost your mood, and build resilience against stress. So wear your sneakers and do that exercise, because the path to a stress-free life can start with a simple run too!
