There is a grand variety of mental illnesses and straight-up bad moods caused by difficult situations. Because of that, there is a great variety of treatments and strategies for them. However, there are a few core things that help across the board, and one of those is exercise.
Exercise is one of the most potent weapons against mental illness. It is so powerful that some people (not everyone, but some) with clinical-grade levels of depression and anxiety are able to replace their medications with faithful exercise habits. In those who have not reached that point, exercise can prevent them from getting to the point where they need medication in the first place. For this chemical reason alone, it’s well worth the time and effort to develop good exercise habits. In addition to its chemical benefits, exercise has the emotional benefit of reminding you that you matter enough to take the time to do it. Depending on how you exercise, it is an oasis in your day that restores you for the rest of the day’s work. Exercising outdoors gives you the calming benefits of fresh air and freedom from the caginess of indoor life. Pairing indoor exercise with other pleasurable activities like watching TV or listening to music or audiobooks gives you something more to be happy about. To gain even more benefits along the way, exercise with a partner. If you live with others, take walks with them; it will build your relationship and protect you from isolation. If you live alone (or if the people you live with are busy), call loved ones on the phone and walk or pace while talking to them. I pace while I’m on the phone, and I frequently exercise far more on days where I have a lot of phone calls than when I don’t because the time goes by so fast from the pleasure I get from being in the company of others. If you have a lot of work calls, this is also a great way of doing healthy multitasking. Of course, exercise also benefits your physical health, which improves your mental health as well. Obesity is linked to several kinds of mental illness, though it’s not clear which causes which. Medications used to treat mental illness can make people gain weight, and mental illness has a way of demotivating people from caring for their physical health. Conversely, being in poor physical health can cause situation-based depression and anxiety. It’s a vicious cycle. Because it’s easier to work on physical health in many ways than on mental health, exercise is a good way to enter the virtuous cycle of recovering from problems with both. While diet also has an impact on mental health, exercise is a better place to begin because it doesn’t involve adjusting the powerful emotional connections we have to food. Those things do need to be addressed eventually, but it’s easier to do once there are small victories and wins in the area of exercise. Success builds on success in both mental and physical health, so obtaining easier victories earlier on can help motivate you to work on both in the long run. The amount and kind of exercise needed to help with mental health will vary according to the severity of the mental health issue and what they’re capable of doing physically. If exercise hasn’t been a very big part of your life in a while, it’s fine to start small. You may hear people talk about the benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day, but 7500 is the real minimum for good health. Starting there and gradually working up to longer goals will be better for you in the long run than starting out trying to meet the ambitious but slightly unrealistic 12,500 steps recommended to treat severe depression. This principle is especially important in the area of strength training. While scientists have understood the benefits of aerobic exercise (walking, running, jogging, etc.) for mental health for some time, they are just now beginning to see how strength training benefits mental health as well. For strength training to be beneficial, it doesn’t have to make you sore or look impressive to yourself or others. In fact, to prevent injury, try not to push yourself until you’ve gotten refamiliarized with your body’s capabilities. On a recent getaway, I went swimming every morning in the resort’s glorious pool. On the last day, I started a little sore but loved the water so much that I pushed myself even further than the previous day and really wore myself out. There was no lasting harm done, but that level of exertion is unnecessary to see progress. If you get sore from any type of exercise, stretching is your friend. When a stretch feels good, you know you’ve worked the muscle enough to make progress. When you stretch, you want to stretch to the point of tightness, not pain, or you run the risk of tearing the muscle. In terms of mental health, stretching is aided and enhanced by deep breathing, which is known to help relax those suffering from severe anxiety. A regular practice of stretching and deep breathing will help those experiencing anxiety from succumbing to it completely. The body and the mind are inseparable, and exercise is one of the best activities for both. Find a form of it you enjoy and get moving! Your body is built for it, and your mind is designed to benefit from it. Why not try it? DISCLAIMER: Never withdraw from psychiatric medications without the supervision of the prescribing physician. Although exercise can make it possible, it is never a good idea to quit cold turkey because of the complicated effects these medications have on body chemistry. Take time to build up an exercise habit and enjoy some of its benefits before talking to your doctor about reducing or stopping your medications.
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AuthorJillian Lutes is the youth pastor at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Archives
May 2020
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