Step into the world of physical well-being and its link to mental health with Evan. Understand how exercise acts as a natural antidepressant, its role in anxiety reduction, and the overall impact on mood and mental health. Get ready to be motivated to incorporate physical activity into your healing journey!
Evan: Exercise is crucial for our mental health as well. He shares five reasons why he always recommends clients do some form of exercise. The benefits come immediately, he says. A healthy body holds a healthy mind.
When we think about the benefits of exercise, our mind is typically going to go to something like sculpting our bodies, looking good, athletic performance, even being healthier and living longer, all great things. However, I think what's often missed is just how crucial and powerful exercise is for our mental health as well. I'm Evan, your resident mental health and addiction therapist. And in this video, I'm going to share with you the top five reasons why, as a therapist, I always recommend clients do some form of exercise.
First is the impact exercise has on our brains neurotransmitters. It stimulates these chemicals that make us feel overall happier and improve our mood. For example, almost any type of rigorous exercise, even a long walk, is going to boost the production of neurotransmitters like dopamine equaling pleasure, serotonin equaling happiness, and endorphins, our brain's natural painkiller. Number two is the way in which exercises boost our physical health overall, which directly correlates with overall mental wellness.
For example, the ways in which exercise reduces the stress that comes from having chronic health conditions, from continually having to manage them, and the way they make you feel overall, whether it be chronic illness like diabetes or chronic pain. Number three is the way in which exercise promotes our overall self esteem. The way we view ourselves, for example, whether it's the mood boosting functions that just make us feel better, or perhaps it's reaching goals, whether that be how we look or our athletic performance.
Having this positive self image and an increase in confidence is crucial to how we feel about ourselves and how we feel overall. Number four is one of my favorites, because as an addiction counselor, I highly recommend folks exercise, because in studies from the National Institute of Health A, it's shown that individuals in substance recovery experience less cravings by improving their mood and it being used as a replacement behavior. So whether you're in recovery or not, having something like exercise as part of your regular regimen reduces some of those anxieties, as well as this desire to use alcohol as something to fill your time or to fulfill some other purpose that may not be as healthy.
Number five is that the benefits that come with exercise come immediately. It's one of the first things you can do to immediately improve in all these areas, things like medication can be very helpful, but often something like an SSRI, a common antidepressant, takes weeks or more to fully kick in. So those immediate benefits are a great plus. So to wrap it up, exercise and an overall healthier lifestyle is more than just being physically healthier. It's about improving our mental health, which, conversely, is shown to improve our overall physical health.
These things interact in harmony. So go ahead, take a long walk, do a yoga class, head to the gym. All of these things are going to be of immense benefit. Even though it may feel uncomfortable over time. It's going to be something you can't live without. Because, as the saying goes, a healthy body holds a healthy mind. Our channel.
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