Depression and anxiety: Exercise relieves symptoms

Exercise is not only an effective way to prevent health conditions such as cardiovascular, high blood pressure and diabetes, in addition it also contributes to improving the symptoms of depression or anxiety. However, before carrying out any exercise program, you should also consult a doctor or specialist to ensure safety and suitable for your health.

Exercise has long been considered an excellent measure that helps prevent and improve a wide range of health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascularand arthritis. Some recent studies have shown that exercising regularly helps bring psychological as well as physical benefits to people with symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Although the link between depression, anxiety and exercise is not entirely clear, experts say that performing exercises and other forms of physical activity can certainly help relieve the symptoms of depression or anxiety, thereby giving you a greater sense of excitement. In addition, exercise also helps prevent depression and anxiety from returning after the treatment of the disease.

In general, regular exercise can alleviate depression and anxiety in the following ways:

• Release of endorphins: Exercise is good for your emotions because it can stimulate the release of endorphins – a natural chemical in the brain, similar to cannabis (endnabinoids), and other natural chemicals in the brain, which enhance your sense of well-being.
• Eliminate worries in the mind: This can help you get out of the rotation of negative thoughts that feed anxiety and depression.

Regular exercise also brings many psychological and emotional benefits, it can help you:

• Gain confidence: Meeting your exercise goals (even small challenges) can boost your confidence. In addition, exercise also helps you maintain a balanced physique and makes you feel more satisfied with your appearance.
• Get more social interaction: Exercise and other physical activities give you the opportunity to meet or social with others. Just giving each other a friendly smile or greeting while walking around your neighborhood can also bring many positive benefits to your mood.
• Deal with depression and anxiety in a healthy way: Exercise is considered a healthy coping strategy that effectively manages depression and anxiety. Trying to relieve emotions by drinkingalcohol , monitoring feelings or hoping the symptoms of anxiety and depression will disappear on their own can make your condition worse.

Some studies show that physical activities such as regular walking, are not only official exercise programs but can help improve mood. Physical activity and exercise are not exactly the same, but both offer many benefits for your overall health.

In fact, physical activity is any activity that requires muscle and energy, which includes both domestic or recreation work. On the other hand, exercise is a planned, structured and repetitive body movement to improve or maintain physical fitness.

Exercise includes a variety of exercises that help increase your body's level of activity to bring you a sense of comfort. Exercises such as running ,playing basketball, lifting weights and some other physical activity help the heart pump blood better. However, you can also perform some other physical activity such as gardening, walking around the house or washing the car to improve mood as well as alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

You don't need to do all the exercise or other physical activity at once, instead looking to add physical activity to your daily life, such as going stairs instead of an elevator. Or if you're living near your workplace, consider cycling to get to work.

Healthcare professionals think that exercising for 30 minutes or more every day and doing it for 3–5 days a week can help significantly improve depressive and anxious symptoms. Even physical activities of only 10-15 minutes at a time can make a positive difference to your mood as well as your health.

You can save more time to practice physical exercise that is good for emotions through more powerful activities, such as cycling or running. The mental health benefits of exercise and physical activity can only be achieved if you stick together and maintain them long-term. To do this, you can do the activities that you love

Starting and sticking long term with an exercise routine or regular physical activity can be a challenge for you. Here are some strategies to help you easily start and stay motivated, including:

• Identify your favorite physical activity: You should find out what kind of physical activity you are most capable of doing and whether it suits your time?
• Seeking the support of a mental health professional: If you have depression and anxiety, talk to your doctor for guidance and support about an exercise program or physical activity routine that fits your overall treatment plan.
• Set reasonable workout goals: To calm or improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety, you don't necessarily have to exercise 1 hour a day/week. Instead, you need to think practically about what you can do and start doing it slowly. Tailor your workout plan to suit your needs and abilities rather than set practical and difficult-to-meet principles.
• Consider exercise or physical activity as a therapeutic method: People with symptoms of depression and anxiety should not consider exercise as another should in life, instead consider these as therapy sessions or medications, turning them into a method to help the body be healthier.
• Find out the obstacles or barriers to your exercise: If your practice of physical exercise is being restricted or hindered by a certain cause, you should try to find out the specific reasons and remedy them with other alternatives.
• Prepare your mind for failures and obstacles when exercising: You should recognize and self-motivation after each exercise. If you quit exercising one day, that doesn't mean you can't maintain your workout routine and have to give up. As long as you try again the next day and aim to stick with them for a long time.

People with anxiety or depression should also consult a doctor before starting a new exercise program to ensure it is safe and appropriate for you. In addition, your doctor will also consider any medications you are taking as well as your current state of health to give useful tips on starting and maintaining motivation for exercise.

If you exercise regularly but symptoms of depression and anxiety still hinder your daily life, see a doctor or mental health professional as soon as possible. Although exercise and physical activity are great ways to alleviate symptoms of depression or anxiety, they are not a substitute for psycho therapeutics or other therapeutic drugs.

Psychological Clinic – Times City International General Health Hub is one of the most prestigious addresses in the treatment of psychological and mental health problems. The team of doctors at the clinic are highly specialized, many are lecturers in psychiatric subjects at Hanoi Medical University, capable of implementing psychological tests, intensive psychological therapy, effective support for the treatment of diseases.

Source: mayoclinic.org