Regular exercise (both cardio and strength training) can help our bodies get and stay healthier now and for years into the future. The physical benefits of regular exercise are well documented, but what about the mental benefits of working out? These are super important too, and they can make a huge difference in life and how we feel about, live, and deal with life, especially when life gets hard. In fact, it’s the mental benefits of regular exercise that can keep us going when our physical progress isn’t happening as quickly as we’d like it to or when we just really don’t want to do another workout. See if you’d like to experience any of these benefits:
- It can help with depression and anxiety.1
- It’ll help you sleep better!1
- It can improve your mood and feelings of well-being.3
- It can boost your memory now and as you age.3 Yes, please!
- It boosts your brain power!1
- It can increase your self-confidence and self-esteem.1
- It helps you think more clearly.3
- It can decrease stress and help you respond to stress better.1
- It can increase your resistance to fatigue.3
- It helps you relax and takes your mind off your worries, even if only for a short time.4
- It helps you function better in social interactions, which are so important!4
In addition to the above, here are some benefits I’ve personally noticed from participating in regular exercise over the years:
- It builds my confidence in other areas of my life. When I can accomplish a fitness goal, that confidence rolls over into other areas of my life, even to the point of giving me the courage to try new things.
- It allows me to reconnect with myself—that ME time that is so important!
- It helps me improve my time management skills. I learn how to prioritize what’s truly important since I can’t do everything!
- It gives me some thinking time. Even though I’m usually listening to something while I’m working out (podcast, music), sometimes I find myself just thinking and not even really listening to what’s coming through my air pods. It’s great thinking time: Thinking about problems to solve, things I want to accomplish, things I need to do, things I’m writing or want to write about…things that just need some undistracted thinking time. It’s like what I’m listening to keeps that part of my brain busy that’s focused on the workout and what’s going on around me so I can just think.
- It makes me more capable of dealing with problems, in general.
When we experience even some of the above benefits, life. just. goes. better. And no, life won’t necessarily get easier, but we’ll be better equipped to handle whatever life throws at us as we regularly work on our mental game and our fitness, AND our overall quality of life will improve too!
Who doesn’t wish for that?
What mental benefits have you noticed from regular exercise, or which mental benefit would you like to experience? Share it in a comment below!
Sources used and for further reading:
1. Walden University
2. Psychology Today
3. National Institutes of Health
4. Mayo Clinic
Leave a Reply