Exercise and Mental Health

Although exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing when you’re not feeling your best, it offers a wide range of benefits for supporting positive mental health. Physical and mental health are so closely linked – many things that affect your body also affect your mind and vice versa. Think about having an ache or pain – it’s not just the physical feeling you have to put up with but the mental frustration. It can make us more irritable, mentally tired and less motivated to enjoy our lives, even though technically it’s a physical issue and not a psychological one.

​ It follows that if we can do something to make our bodies feel better, our mind will often come along too! Mental health conditions can often affect our physical health and may be experienced alongside conditions such as fibromyalgia, and being over or underweight. Exercise can also benefit these conditions. Read on for 5 key ways in which exercise can help to improve mental health.

1. To build confidence. So many people believe they’re ‘no good’ at exercise just because they’ve never stuck to it before, or were never picked for the sports teams at school (surely that wasn’t just me?!) It can be scary walking into a class or gym for the first time, or trying to learn the rules of a new sport or the moves to a certain dance routine, but by stepping out of our comfort zone and trying something new we can often be amazed by what our bodies and minds can do! Definitely a reason to feel proud and give yourself a pat on the back and this can be a great confidence boost.
2. To improve physical health. Quite often, our mental health can be linked with a physical condition that leaves us not being able to do what we used to such as cleaning, long walks or even playing with the children/grandkids. Our mental health can suffer from weight changes or being diagnosed with a health condition. Exercise can help to build strength, balance and fitness as well as supporting healthy weight management, all of which can have a knock on effect on our state of mind.
3. To moderate sleep and eating behaviours. Due to exercise using our muscles and organs such as our hearts (and often our brains too), it can help to balance our energy so that we are energised after a workout but tired enough to get more restorative rest later on. It can also help to encourage us to fuel our bodies right for a workout and to eat well to aid recovery afterwards, as well as keeping hydrated to replace all that we’ve sweated out! As poor sleep and eating behaviours can often go hand in hand with not feeling our best mentally, anything that helps to get these on track can offer great benefits for how we feel!
   
4. To release endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals made in our bodies that can help to boost our mood and are even thought of as being our bodies own natural painkillers! That feeling of a calm and positive mind you get after a good workout really isn’t just your imagination, and those joints and muscles feeling loosened up and less painful is our body working its very own magic!
   
5. Socialise or get some ‘you-time’. Exercise is so flexible and varied, there really is something for everyone. Sometimes we can feel down because we are lonely, or sometimes we isolate ourselves when we’re not feeling our best. Group exercise can give us chance to get out and meet others who are working to improve their wellbeing too.  Alternatively, when life is full of other people’s needs and to-do lists, you may benefit from exercising alone to give you some valuable ‘you time’ and focus on yourself for a while. Whatever your preferences, there really is an exercise out there to suit everybody!
   

If you are struggling with a physical or mental health condition and are unsure of what exercise options are out there and what would be best for you, you can self-refer to a scheme such as Bury Exercise and Therapy Scheme (BEATS), where exercise referral officers will support you in helping to manage your health with exercise. You can self - by following this link. The Creative Living Centre are also available to advise on all aspects of mental health and can also signpost to local facilities.