Physical Exercise vs Mental Health

It is possible to confirm that the practice of physical exercise contributes to our physical health and can combat diseases, such as heart disease. However, in the last past years and decades, we have opened a new chapter in physical exercise. With mental health being more and more focused in our society and with the social pressure growing rapidly, we have noticed various articles, books and authors giving more attention to this problem. In fact, when we exercise, we feel energetic, productive and a feeling of physical wellness.

In the United States, mental health is on top of medical expenditures, and it is one of the countries with most obesity in the world. There are recommendations that one of the habits that the society should gain is the practice of exercise. With the practice of exercise with a duration of, at least, nine weeks can create a new routine, new habits and an improved mental health. The American Psychiatric Association estimates that depression will be one of the biggest health problems in the future and considers that thirty million of Americans suffer from anxiety. The same association highly recommends that exercise is an antidepressant and can drastically improve our mental state and our social behaviour. Additionally, we can correlate physical exercise with a positive behaviour as one the main consequences of the practice. We can add an increase in our self-esteem which can be related to positive behaviour and which it helps facing our daily activities in a different way. The same reason goes for a better quality in our sleep. If consider that the sleep quality directly affects our mood and our daily behaviour, it is crucial that we have a good rest during the night. When we face a poor mental health state, we may not rest enough time, nor with good quality, such reality is directly related to anxiety which can keep us awake the whole day and does not let us rest.

The impact of the practice of physical exercise will unquestionably improve our mental health and our behaviour. In consequence, we create a new lifestyle in our human habits such as, we are more confident to bond with people and meet new experiences since we are not restricted to our anxiety. On the other hand, we learn a new routine and develop responsibility since we now have a task and objective to our ourselves, with that we tend to be awake and energetic and we also create new behaviours, standards and objectives. There is in no moment of the history that says that physical workout has a negative part in our development, or a healthy practice has negative consequences in our lifestyle.

If we live our life more actively and more productive, we are open to new horizons and our social environment will grow because we are not restrained by anything. Physical exercise is indeed a practice that can let us live an happier life.

References

Landers, D. M. (1997). The influence of exercise on mental health. President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Kim, Y. S., Park, Y. S., Allegrante, J. P., Marks, R., Ok, H., Cho, K. O., & Garber, C. E. (2012). Relationship between physical activity and general mental health. Preventive medicine, 55(5), 458-463.