How to Maintain Mental Health With Exercise

Exercising regularly is an important part of maintaining good mental health.  Exercise lowers stress and anxiety levels.  It improves the mood and increases energy.  It helps regulate sleep and appetite.  It is important part in physical, mental and emotional health.

Exercise is just as important to your emotional health as it is to your physical health.  Research shows that exercise can reduce anxiety levels and improve depression.  Some people are able to successfully improve anxiety or depression without medication through exercise alone. 

To reduce anxiety:

Aerobic exercise is most efficient.  Results are typically seen after several weeks of consistent exercise.  People who are new to exercising or have a low level of fitness with high anxiety tend to see the greatest results.

To reduce depression:

Results seem to be most significant in those with high levels of depression.   Results are typically noticed after several weeks of regular exercise.  The greatest results are seen through vigorous exercise performed several times each week.

Here are some tips for incorporating exercise into your life to achieve or maintain a stable level of mental health.

• Find an activity you enjoy.  Join a gym if you like, but there are plenty of ways to exercise without one.  Yoga, running, weight training, golf, dancing or swimming are just a few options. 


• Make a commitment.  Find a place in your schedule for exercise and make yourself do it.  It won’t be long before you look forward to that time of the day!


• Set a goal to keep you motivated.   Sign up for a 5K race, work towards increasing the weight you can press or learn to hula hoop.


• Ask for support.  Tell your family and friends that you are starting an exercise routine and ask them to be your cheerleader and help you stay accountable.


• Journal your mood, sleep and energy levels.  Once you begin to see a pattern of feeling better on days when you exercise, it will be easy to keep the habit going.