BrainStorm
People who include physical activity in their everyday routine increase their sense of well-being by feeling more energetic, positive and relaxed. It can also aid in improving sleep. Therefore, physical activity is viewed as a powerful method for many mental health challenges.
​
​
Read more about the benefits of physical activity on different mental health conditions here
​
Benefits of physical health
Depression
Physical fitness promotes different kinds of changes in the brain such as neural growth, inflammation reduction and promoting feelings such as calmness and well-being. Exercise can also be used as a distraction, allowing some quiet time to break out of the cycle of constant negative thoughts that increase depression.
Anxiety
Exercise is an effective method to treat anxiety since it releaves any tension and stress in an individual whilst also boosting the physical and mental energy, this will not only improve any physical circumstances but also being able to disturb the circulating negative thoughts.
Stress
Being constantly stressed and worried could potentially create a cycle between the mind and the body in which and individual could feel physical discomfort such as tense muscles, physical pain, heartburn, stomach ache and more which in turn creates even more stress. Exercise is a good technique to break this cycle as it relaxes the muscles and releases any tension in the body, therefore, when the body feels better so will the mind.
ADHD
Maintaining a regular routine of physical activity can have an enormous impact on decreasing the symptoms of ADHD since exercise has been found to improve concentration, motivation, mood and memory. It has also been found that fitness boosts the brain’s dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin levels which all impact the attention span.
PTSD and Trauma
According to some research, individuals should place their attention on the body, the physical sensations in the joints and muscles as well as inside the body and feelings as it has been found that it aids the nervous system by becoming unstuck and moving away from the binding stress response that make up PTSD or trauma. Examples of exercises that could be done: running, swimming, dancing, hiking and more.