By Ishma Alvi
Exercise: The Best Kind of Drug
Every health expert you see- whether on physical or mental health- will offer the same ubiquitous advice for wellbeing: exercise. And you, as the client, nod along, a part of you recognizing that exercise is good and yet another part, almost simultaneously recognizing the unlikelihood of your implementing that. It’s not that you’ve disregarded the information: the cycle is just too familiar. You dive wholeheartedly in to a new exercise regimen and feel great. And then you can’t keep it up and it slowly peters out; with the end result being the guilt of not sustaining the regime. This article aims to not only clarify what exercise is and how it helps, but how to make it a sustainable part of your life.
What is Exercise?
The word ‘exercise’, though ubiquitous, is not uniform in meaning. How people understand this word shifts not only according to the individual but their age, gender and even socio-cultural context. The word is vague: a generalized bucket for any activity from a gentle stroll to a rigorous CrossFit session. Therefore, it’s important to start with understanding exactly what this loaded word means. Firstly, it’s a look at what physical activity is. Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure. Exercise, though similar, has certain specifications. Though involving bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that expends energy, exercise is physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and purposeful. Therefore, exercise can be seen more as a subset of physical activity, rather than synonymous with it.
Exercise and Mental Health Benefits: Prove It
Though there are few people who would argue against exercise, many are unaware of its exact physiological, neurological and psychological benefits. It’s important to examine exactly how exercise functions neurochemically to improve mental health, even in the case of clinically diagnosed mental health issues (and just in case you weren’t sure; neurochemistry is the function of chemicals in the human brain, which have an impact on both mood and anxiety). Certain neurochemicals and neurohormones have an impact on anxiety and others on mood. For example, monoamines such as norepinephrine (low levels of which are associated with anxiety), serotonin (low levels of which are implicated in both low mood and anxiety), types of endorphins and neurotrophins (low levels of which are linked to both low mood and anxiety). Extensive research has shown (see links at the end of the article) that exercise has significant measurable impact on the levels of these chemicals and hormones, which then work to improve mood and reduce anxiety. This is not to say that the psychological benefits of exercise are limited. They are extensive and varied. Some researchers have found evidence to indicate that exercise, especially those involving increased heart rates reduce anxiety due to the ‘exposure’ effect.
The idea is that exposure to the increased heartrate, sweating and rapid breathing through exercise reduces sensitivity and misinterpretation of these symptoms and makes those suffering with anxiety less worried when they experience these issues outside of the exercise context. This is due to the increased familiarity and therefore normalization of these bodily changes. Another psychological reason why exercise may be helpful for anxiety is that it allows for an immersive activity that provides the opportunity to disengage from anxious thoughts and engage in an activity that, of a necessity, requires both mental and physical focus. Exercise is also psychologically beneficial as it can function to increase a person’s sense of self-efficacy. With other forms of treatment, there may be a possibility that improvements in mood or anxiety are attributed to external sources; such as the GP, the psychiatrist, the psychologist of the therapies provided by them. On the other hand, exercise allows for a sense of control and ownership of both treatment and results. This sense of control is then further reinforced by the often immediate benefits felt from exercise. The increased self-efficacy also specifically counters the feelings of helplessness that are common features of both depression and anxiety. Simply put, the knowledge that you made you feel better can be extremely powerful in shifting both anxiety and depression.
In our next post we will consider how to choose the exercise that suites you best.
