According to research published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, the mental health benefits from regular exercise include the following:

• Improved sleep
• Increased interest in sex
• Stress relief
• Improvement in mood
• Reduced tiredness that can increase mental alertness

In short, the authors of the study wrote, exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. Exercise has also been found to alleviate symptoms such as low self-esteem and social withdrawal.

The study found that only 30 minutes of exercise of moderate intensity, such as brisk walking, three days per week, is sufficient for these health benefits. Moreover, these 30 minutes need not to be continuous; three 10-minute walks are believed to be as equally useful as one 30-minute walk.

Many Paths to the Goal

Even the Mayo Clinic freshened up their take recently on the role of exercise in relieving stress. One of their lead findings was that just about any form of exercise that suits you can help relieve the stress of daily living.

Since the 1970s, runners have remarked on “runner’s high,” the blissful feeling that blankets you after, and sometimes during, a run. Well that feeling of well-being is not the property of runners alone, as most any athlete can testify, and the Mayo Clinic findings confirm it. Exercise in practically any form can generate the juice that feels good to both mind and body.

How It Works

Movement and activity release endorphins; you’ve probably heard of them. They’re a family of hormones that are secreted in the brain and throughout the nervous system to activate the body’s receptors for feeling good. Endorphins are generated during sex, eating – and exercise. That’s pretty good company, we think.

It may be encouraging to learn that there is a medical, bio-chemical reason for the power of exercise to relieve stress. And that’s in addition to the subjective feelings of satisfaction, self-regard, and fulfillment we feel when we exercise the discipline that working out on a regular basis calls for.

Another way exercise helps is by putting the effects of stress to good use – turning those damaging fight-or-flight reactions into fuel for the body’s benefit. Exercise gives the “stress reaction” some constructive work to do, and so it helps protect your cardiovascular, digestive, and immune systems from the harmful effects of stress.

A Better State of Mind

Exercise has been called “meditation in motion.” This is one reason people want to return to it regularly – you tend to forget your worries. Most forms of exercise – through rhythm or exertion or concentration – make it hard to keep thinking about what didn’t go well yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow. The gift of “being here now” is perhaps one of the best of the unsung benefits of exercising regularly. We learn to find this state of mind whenever we need it, eventually.

A friend of ours described this state of mind as noticing “moments in between the moments,” when he could decide for himself how he is going to react. Today, when distractions and controversy are so common, we think this is a good talent to develop, and it is one of the things you can look forward to, when you get grooved in an exercise program that is tailored to you.