Fitness and Mental Health

What are some positive effects fitness has on mental health?

Everyone wants to find a better way to take care of their mental health in a positive way. There are people who dive into creative avenues like writing or learning to play an instrument, others go the more spiritual route with daily meditation. All of those are great but I'm going to discuss why fitness is a route a lot of people should take in better handling their mental health.

Since I was 11 or 12 years old, I’ve been into lifting weights and I didn't believe it was for mental health at first, This was more of a way to build an active lifestyle for a skinny-fat kid with a lot of energy and a love for X-men and professional wrestling. I was a mild mannered kid who was bullied so I built resentment and anger. I couldn’t sleep on most nights because of the mental abuse developed as a kid, constant dreams and often nightmares of me causing self harm or harming those that have bullied me made me into a bottle rocket of emotions that would explode at any given moment. My way of “exploding” was through crying fits at any slight disrespect because I didn’t want to become what I was in those nightmares. One birthday or Christmas, my mom gave me my first weight set. This was my first exposure to lifting at 11 years old and I instantly fell in love with it. I started to realize how important it was for my mental health during my young adulthood and now at 32 years old, I’m passing along my expertise to others as a certified trainer of 9 years.

3 Positive Effects Fitness can have on your Mental Health

-Lowers Stress Levels

This is why I believe fitness should be accessible to EVERYONE. No matter class,race or gender. I can say that living in a lower class area where stress is EVERYWHERE, a nearby park with a running track and a few pull-up bars or a fully equipped affordable gym can make a big difference in a lot of lives. This applies to a person with a well paying but high stress office job or a person who has a manual labor job of any kind, fitness can be a tool in stress management that can be beneficial in clearing your mind while also building a better body at the same time.

-Improves Sleep

This is for the night owls that doomscroll on social media late at night. A good workout program can help reduce stress levels as addressed before but can also help produce melatonin which helps regulate your sleep cycle along with a chemical called adenosine, a chemical that helps promote deep sleep.

-Improves Cognitive Function

The following applies to all ages, and why I make the point that fitness is a lifestyle. Cognitive function is defined as the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and senses. Fitness can help in building better concentration, increasing blood flow through the creation of blood vessels and daily exercise also helps reduce cognitive decline like dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

This is the part of the blog where I tell you the one definitive exercise or program that you should be following to better your mental health. The number one form of exercise or program everyone should be following is “Drumroll Please”

MOVEMENT.

Did you honestly think that I was going to be like your basic gym influencer and preach about how ONE thing is better than everything else because of personal experience. I believe any form of movement that keeps you coming back is valuable in this space. I personally lean towards powerlifting, because I just love putting crazy numbers on the board. I love the body it gives me aesthetically and just lifting heavy weight on a regular basis really helps manage my stress and mental health because after a long 90 minutes of lifting, I just want to eat and sleep.

At the end of the day, If you want to dance, join a group dance class. If you want to walk daily, go for it. If you want to lift heavy weights and test your limits in a programmed fashion like myself, please do. But no matter what, move with intention and make sure it’s something you ENJOY!!!

I hope you read this and understand that your mental health is important and should be a priority.

I hope you read this and understand that You Matter.

If you reached the end of this blog, Thank you for taking some time out of your day to read the E.T.S Blog. I hope you learned something and always remember that

The Winner Is You!!!