Exercise and Your Mental Health
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Before I began exercising regularly, I noticed I didn’t seem to have much enthusiasm for anything. Which is probably why I didn’t like to exercise. It was a vicious cycle of being in bad moods, thus leading a sedentary lifestyle. Once I made the change in my life and began running regularly, my attitude shifted. I started to enjoy exercising and loved the feeling I got (release of endorphins) from it. Now I am at the point where I feel moody if I don’t exercise. What a change!
A recent article points out how exercise is a great stress reliever, helps fight anxiety and depression, and may even help smokers quit the habit:
“Stress is a build-up of inactivity, of over-thinking without release,” he said. “But exercise gives you a physical release that diminishes that psychic frustration.”
Regular workouts may even help smokers beat their addiction, researchers say.
For example, one study from Brown University found that women looking to quit smoking who engaged in a vigorous exercise program were more than twice as likely to have stayed away from cigarettes for at least one year, compared to women who simply took part in a smoking-cessation program without exercise.
Tags: exercise, stress, depression, anxiety, smoking, mental health
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