5 Ways to Reduce Anxiety and Stress with Exercise

Stress has become an unavoidable part of most of our lives.

We all have so many commitments and so little time to get everything done that we often lose ourselves in this hot mess. Most of us end up with no time for ourselves which further aggravates us since we never really get a chance to detoxify.

If we don’t do something about this stress anytime soon, it becomes anxiety, and dealing with anxiety is not easy. Many of us have already begun to walk down that road, unfortunately. But, that does not mean that there is no way out!

Some people go for Cannabis use for stress reduction. We suggest you go for exercising instead. Physical exercise can bring a myriad of benefits to your mind and body, which will help in relieving your stress and anxiety. Here are a few of the best ways:

Keeping Your Hormones Balanced

Stress and anxiety throw your hormones out of balance. And when your stress gives way to anxiety, your hormones go awry. For example, when you are stressed out, the hormone cortisol starts to produce excessively in your body. Cortisol is released in response to the stress our body undergoes. Another hormone that you commonly find high levels of in an anxious person is adrenaline. Adrenaline is released in response to feat and people with anxiety live in constant fear.

When you exercise though, these two hormones begin to work on the physical stress on your body instead of the mental stress. Adrenaline can help you exercise more efficiently as well.

Exercising also stimulates the release of endorphins in the body. Endorphins are the feel-good hormones of the body that is responsible for lifting your mood and making you happy.

Doing Yoga

Yoga as a form of exercise is highly beneficial for people with stress and anxiety. People who are stressed out have a lot of clutter in their heads. They worry about unnecessary things and are sometimes afraid of performing even the simplest tasks. The only way for these people to get their lives together again is by organizing themselves and decluttering their minds.

Yoga is a form of meditation. Yoga is often known as meditation in motion. It is used to help you achieve mental relief while continually undergoing physical training. You are often asked to clear your mind of all thoughts while performing Yoga exercises which can help in organizing your thoughts.

Other than that, one of the key points of performing Yoga exercises is controlling your breathing. You are required to take deep, numbered breaths while practicing each pose. And taking deep breaths is one of the best ways to reduce anxiety according to many scientific studies. Many people make use of breathing exercises alone to help them with anxiety attacks.

Lastly, the stretches included in Yoga are also great for getting rid of muscle pains that are associated with stress. These include back, neck, and shoulder pains. A general feeling of well-being such as this one is also beneficial in making you feel more relaxed than before.

Enabling yourself to be Productive

One of the biggest dilemmas of an anxious person is that they are unable to get productive. They often find that they lack the motivation to get the simplest tasks done which can take a toll on their self-esteem.

Exercising is one of the most productive things that a person can do. If you start off your day with a bout of exercise, you will feel motivated to get through your day productively as well. It only takes the accomplishment of a single task to make an anxious person believe in themselves again.

If an anxious person finds the motivation to get up in the morning and do a little bit of exercise, they will find that this problem resolves easily. Exercising in the morning can increase your metabolism for the whole day which will ensure that you have the right amount of energy for each task that you want to do. You will be motivated to perform each task as well.

Distracting you

As we mentioned before, anxious people often lack the motivation to get things done, so they do nothing for long time periods. In this time of idleness, a lot of fearful and worrisome thoughts clutter their heads. Common distractions like scrolling through social media pages are often futile in these times as well.

Exercising can help you out in these times as well. If you go to a gym to exercise, you probably meet a couple of new people. You can make new friends and make small talk with these people to get rid of some of the anxiety pent up in you.

If you don’t have too many pressing tasks at hand at the moment and you are mostly free, it can aggravate your anxiety even more. So going to a gym for exercise can distract you from all that free time that you have as well.

Other than that, when you exercise, it is difficult to think about much else other than the task at hand. So you end up with a decent distraction from your anxiety as well.

Boosting Self-Esteem

Anxious people are also notorious for having little to no self-esteem. They often fear failure and don’t think they are up to performing any task at all. They need a boost of confidence whenever they can get one.

When you exercise for a couple of weeks, you begin to notice a difference in your body. Your body begins to shape up, and you start looking good. When you look good, you feel good. A little boost of self-esteem can be all you need to stop feeling anxious and insecure. Maybe you’ll even begin to work harder on your looks and get more confident than before.

Other than that, if you have been meaning to lose a couple of pounds, you will begin to notice that every time you weigh yourself as well. Seeing yourself achieve something will also work on improving your self-esteem and making you think better of yourself.

Author Bio:

Katherine Elvis, a mother of a one-year-old kid named, Jim. She is a clinical psychologist, and her passion is to learn the medical studies and social sciences, that’s why she has a lot of interest in writing and blogging on medical, general, and social areas of the human personalities. She regularly writes blogs at https:/cannabisy.ca/.