Exercise is like active armour for your body—it strengthens everything from your muscles and bones to your heart and even your entire immune system. But exercise is also a powerful shield for your mental wellbeing.  

Whether you’re having a stressful day or dealing with a more serious bout of stress, anxiety, or depression, exercise may be the key to an improved mood, energy levels and outlook on life.

P.E Nation is here to tell you everything you need to know about the connection between exercise and mental health, and how you can make the most of it, starting today.

Before getting into the why’s and how’s, here are the proven mental health benefits of regular exercise:

• Reduces stress

• Elevates mood

• Lowers feelings of anxiety and depression

• Prevents panic attacks and depression relapses

• Improves cognition, including memory recall and focus

• Gives you a greater sense of accomplishment

You can often experience this mental health boost just five minutes after exercising. And these effects aren’t moderate, either. Numerous studies show that regular physical activity can have an incredibly positive impact on mental wellness. But how does it all work?

Exercise requires physical strength and endurance. Your muscles fire up, your heart beats faster, and your lungs take in more oxygen. But exercise also activates your brain. More specifically: your stress response.

When you exercise, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that regulates your stress response. While cortisol levels are higher during exercise, they quickly taper off and stay lower after you've worked out.

During exercise, you also release “happy chemicals.” These neurotransmitters that control your mood and emotional responses:

• Endorphins

• Dopamine

• Serotonin

• Norepinephrine

When more of these chemicals are circulating in your body, your mood improves and you become more resilient to both physical and emotional stress.

Practice makes perfect for physical performance, but this adage also applies to how your body deals with stress.

Over time, regular exercise trains you to deal with stress better. It helps improve the communication capabilities between all of your internal systems. Your central and peripheral nervous systems, your cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, and others are all able to relay information and respond to stress more efficiently.

Exercise has short-term effects on mood and stress, but it’s also a powerful treatment for people with longer depressive episodes.

People with depression have lower levels of mood-stabilising hormones and neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a common form of antidepressant, can boost serotonin levels by blocking your cells from absorbing it.

But as you now know, exercise boosts serotonin levels, too. And researchers have found that it's about as effective as antidepressants in managing depressive symptoms.

Experts also believe that regular exercise over a long period of time can prevent relapses in depression. So, not only will you feel better immediately after exercising, but you’ll also continue to benefit in the long run.

If you’ve experienced the symptoms of anxiety, you probably notice some overlap with your body’s response to exercise: fast heartbeat, heavy breathing, sweating, and more.

This is your body’s “fight-or-flight” response—it’s activated by both exercise and anxiety.

Your fight-or-flight response is an important bodily function. It keeps you alert and primed to react to dangers in your environment. But when you have anxiety, this response causes excessive fear, and it may get turned on for no apparent reason.

Exercise, on the other hand, activates your fight-or-flight response in a safe, positive way.  

Experts believe that exercise can be used as a form of exposure therapy for people with anxiety. It can teach your body to respond better to fear responses, which can prevent your anxiety symptoms from escalating in the form of panic attacks.

There are so many good reasons to be active. If the mental health benefits aren’t enough to sell you on that, take a look at some of the other positive effects.

Regular exercise is also linked to:

• Better sleep – Many studies show that people who exercise can fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. It can also help you get deeper, more restorative sleep, which may also contribute to better mental wellbeing. However, it’s important not to exercise too closely to your bedtime, as elevated endorphins and body temperature can keep you awake.

• Better prevention of chronic illnesses – Exercise protects your body from developing a wide range of conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, certain cancers, and dementia. Exercise also strengthens your immune response, helping to reduce inflammation. Since illness is a common stressor, exercise in this case works twofold to protect your physical and mental health.

• The development of healthy habits – Exercising regularly can make it easier to follow a consistent daily routine. And when you make exercise a habit, you may find it easier to create more healthy habits, like eating a nutritious diet, drinking water, and sticking to a positive sleep schedule. It may also prompt you to create positive mental health habits, like practicing mindfulness and gratitude.

You can see that many of the physical benefits of exercise actually contribute to better mental health. So, if you’re looking for a holistic wellness treatment, exercise should be your first stop.

“Exercise” is a very broad category of physical activity.

Much of the research on the exercise-mental health connection doesn’t account for the specific activity, intensity, or duration. But there are a few strategies you can use to make the most of your exercise-induced mood boost:

• Start slow – Generally, moderate exercise is best for improving mental health. The immediate mood boost you get after a workout can be delayed by as much as 30 minutes if you exercise too hard. You can usually tell when this happens if it becomes difficult to talk, meaning you’ve passed your respiratory threshold.  

• Be consistent – Most fitness experts recommend you exercise for about 2.5 hours each week. Instead of doing one marathon workout, it can help to break the work up into more manageable segments that you can sprinkle throughout your week. It can also help to find an activity you enjoy that gets you excited to be active.  

• Go outside – Exercising outdoors can have an enhanced effect on the mental health benefits of exercise. It’s shown to increase positive feelings and make you more enthusiastic about exercise, encouraging you to exercise for longer periods of time, and more often.  

• Be observant – Pay attention to your mental state right after exercise. People tend to emphasize cataloging the physical changes that come with exercise, but these changes often take months to see. Many of the mental health benefits, on the other hand, are instantly gratifying. 

When you’re dealing with poor mental health, it can be tough to find the motivation to move your body, but the first step is always the hardest.  

Once you get started, try to tune in; after just one session, you’ll be able to feel a difference.

Any exercise is better than none. All that matters is that you enjoy doing it, and it feels good. But if you need a little inspiration to kickstart your exercise schedule, here are a few fun and effective workouts you can try today:

• Walking – A brisk walk is one of the easiest and most effective ways to engage your body and improve your mental health. You can also try other light aerobic exercises like biking, jogging, and swimming.

• Yoga – Yoga takes the mind-body connection of exercise to another level. It requires you to use your full range of motion, activating both your muscles and your heart. At the same time, it engages your mind through a combination of breathing exercises and mindfulness. 

• Dancing – Exercise doesn’t have to be about getting stronger or faster—it can just be fun! Dancing to your favourite tunes will elevate your heart rate and your energy levels, getting you a little out of breath but all the happier for it. And don’t be afraid to sing along, either.  

• Household chores – If you’re worried about finding the time to exercise, completing chores that get your heart pumping like cleaning or gardening can be a creative and effective solution. You’ll feel better physically and mentally, and you’ll be able to tick a few tasks off your to-do list, too.  

Do a different type of exercise every day, or find one that you love and stick with it. As long as you’re staying active, you’ll achieve real results in both body and mind.

Even when you know that exercise can dramatically improve your physical and mental wellness, it can still be a struggle to work out. Motivate yourself even further by wearing clothes that instantly activate that active mindset.

P.E Nation has the best-quality activewear for standout performance, in all senses of the word. Whether you’re looking for comfort, support, style, or all of the above, we have something that will get you excited to move. Explore our curated guides to find the perfect gym outfits or yoga outfits that blend functionality with fashion, ensuring you look as good as you feel during every workout. Additionally, learn how the athleisure trend has revolutionised everyday fashion, making it easier than ever to transition from workout to day-out without sacrificing style.

Add new energy to each of your workouts with personal style only you can bring. Shop our women’s leggings, workout tops, sports bras , and the rest of the P.E Nation collection today to start enhancing your workout wardrobe.

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Sources:  

American Psychological Association. The exercise effect.   

American Psychological Association. Working out boosts brain health.   

Mayo Clinic. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).  

Johns Hopkins Medicine. Exercising for Better Sleep.  

National Library of Medicine. Physical activity, exercise, and chronic diseases: A brief review.   

Better Health Channel. Exercise and mental health.