Train Your Brain For Healthy Stress Relief With Regular Exercise

Train Your Brain For Healthy Stress Relief With Regular Exercise
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The Mood-Enhancing Effects of Exercise

Everyone knows that exercise is healthy. But did you know that getting regular exercise can help you train your brain to put you in a good mood?

Regular exercise influences our moods by affecting the nervous system. As we move, we’re releasing the pleasure chemicals seratonin and dopamine. When these chemicals are released, we feel happy, calm, and even euphoric. Other life events can cause the release of these mood-enhancing chemicals, but why wait when you can bring on a good mood by exercising?

Your newfound good mood can affect your life on many levels. With the release of these pleasure chemicals, you’ll be able to function at a higher level. When you exercise, you can think more clearly, perform better, and even your morale improves. These dramatic mood-altering affects are often cited by doctors as reasons why exercise can alleviate depression.

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Start Using Exercise to Train Your Brain

Single bouts of exercise can improve your mood for several hours following the activity. However, the mood-enhancing effect may be delayed following a particularly strenuous workout. Training hard can actually release enzymes that create a feeling of fatigue.

When it comes to using exercise as a natural stress reliever, moderate exercise is the key to feeling mood-enhancing effects more immediately. A minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity three times a week is recommended, though 30 to 60 minutes four or five times a week would be even better.

Healthy Stress Relief Side Effects of Exercise

Besides releasing chemicals to improve your mood, exercise also works to improve your mood in other ways:

  • As you exercise your body, you’re bound to feel better about yourself in general. The more results you see physically, the happier and more confident you’ll be with yourself.

  • Exercise improves your circulation to the point that it may eliminate fatigue, headaches, and other problems associated with poor circulation. The more blood you have pumping through your body, the more awake and alert you’ll feel.

  • Exercise can help you make friends. Going to a gym, joining a walking group, or taking dance classes is a great way to meet people. If you’re socializing in a place where people are working on getting fit, you can be comfortable laughing and talking with others who share the same goals as you. Talking about your feelings also helps relieves stress.

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