The Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Exercise
Physical exercise, whether it be at the gym, on the court or on the track provides benefits to both your physical and mental health. Moving your body around, whether that be running a few miles on the treadmill to kicking around a soccer ball in the backyard can improve your brain health, help manage weight, reduce the risk of disease and improve your ability to do everyday activities.
Those are only some of the physical benefits of consistent exercise, but there are many mental benefits as well. Usually, when you string together sessions at the gym, it brings more endurance as well as muscle growth. These improvements are attributed to reducing anxiety and depression as well as improving self-esteem and cognitive function.
STAYING ON TRACK
Progress is objectively the biggest motivation for people continuing to exercise and receiving these benefits. When speaking about the gym in particular, when the majority of people begin to, they have a goal or goals in mind.
These goals could be losing weight, putting on muscle or improving stamina among other things. Seeing progress being made towards these goals is so important because without that, gym goers may feel as if all of their hard work is not being rewarded. Gym goer Jonathan Lally gave his thoughts on how seeing his body change impacted his mentality in a way he wasn’t expecting.
“Seeing the changes in my body over the last nine months has made me feel like a brand new person. The progress that I’ve made so far gives me more of a reason to continue pushing myself to become better each and every day,” said Lally
BECOMING A BETTER YOU
When people start working out the initial goal is to improve their bodies aesthetically, growing bigger muscles or getting leaner, or, it’s to improve their bodies internally, like getting healthier in general or increasing their endurance. Again, progress is what keeps people on track. If they don’t see improvement it won’t give them a reason to continue working as hard as they have been.
Lauren Smith, a personal trainer, gave her thoughts about what keeps people motivated.
“Seeing progress in your body is a sure fire way of making you push forward. There are so many reasons why people start blind to the gym or starting a new workout program. Your aim could be to lose weight and if you’re seeing consistent results you will definitely want to continue. You may have a goal in mind like competing in a competition or just getting stronger in your lifts. When you put the time and effort into something you want and you see the results you’re going to go back for more,” said Smith.
BRAIN POWER
The muscle that is being worked out as hard as biceps, triceps, and quads is the brain. A study was done by knowablemagazine.org in which they looked at the relationship between depression and exercise, and specifically what was a better treatment between that and prescription drugs.
The study showed that those who exercised on a consistent basis compared to those who took sertraline (an antidepressant drug) scored lower on a standard measure of depression.
When you go to the gym it’s like putting armor around your brain. Self-esteem improves, confidence grows, and your anxiety begins to wither. People start to feel like they’re really making a change in their lives, and it makes them feel a lot more positive about themselves.
do you believe your mental health improves with constant trips to the gym and/or general exercise? reply with ur reasons. #gym #workout #exercise #JRNL80
— tony salamah (@tonysalamah) December 6, 2022
HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE
Being an active person in general provides something that is not present in every person. It’s the mental strength and fortitude that we call discipline. There are days when we do not want to get up and would rather sit in bed. There are days when we are feeling absolutely zero motivation, but the difference between people who get up on those days, and people who don’t is discipline.
There is a saying among the gym and exercise community that goes, “If you want to quit, that’s fine. Just finish out the day and quit tomorrow.” Whenever it gets hard this is what people tell themselves, and it helps keep them focused on the present. Lauren Smith had more to say about discipline and how it works its way into life outside of the gym.
“This discipline in the gym will also trickle down to other areas of your life. It will help you make better choices when you eat because you want to see the results of all your hard work, it will also help with other goals you have in mind. Discipline is one of the most important traits a person could have,” said Smith.
The benefits of exercise go beyond the physical and mental aspects. It creates a lifestyle of doing what you have to do, even when you don’t want to. This is the most overlooked part of life in the gym.
The gym humbles you and shows you that hard work and a head down mentality conquers all. When you work hard even when you don’t want to, that’s when you see the fruits of your labor most; and the benefits are endless.
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