How Exercise Can Reduce Anxiety

Exercise plays a pivotal role in reducing anxiety, particularly in the way in which it’s utilised, accessed and maintained. If you have anxiety, you may have feelings of ‘being under threat’, experience stress, worry, fear and possibly dread. Besides mental health support from a GP or counsellor, there are various ways in which we can manage anxiety. One of these ways is through exercise.

Why is exercise important?

You may be aware already the pros and recommendations of exercise, it is an important factor in a healthy lifestyle. It is not always something that is used to serve as weight loss but instead something that is important to keep up no matter what your goals or body type might be.

Exercise has been proven to support both physical and mental wellbeing and enhance overall quality of life by boosting inner and outer strength and reducing risk of chronic diseases. It can also support the prevention of cardiovascular conditions in the future.

From an anxiety perspective, exercise can make us more resilient to stress, particularly due to the endorphins that are released in the process. In time, this helps with muscle relaxation – something which many with anxiety may struggle with due to mental and physical feelings of tension. Endorphins are those feel-good hormones that over time can add up and challenge negative thoughts such as anxiety and stress.

How does exercise improve mental health?

Exercise can be a really good tool to help manage anxiety and other mental health conditions. As anxiety is a high energy emotion, not releasing it can make it manifest in other ways. This can lead to physical sensations such as tight chests, butterflies in the stomach, muscle pains, low energy due to mental fatigue and more. By exercising, we can drain this excess energy and alleviate further anxiety moving forward.

Why is exercise good for mental health?

Anxiety can look different from one individual to another, but something that can be common with anxiety is the idea of the unknown and the lack of control we might be experiencing. Overall mental health can be supported with structure and routines, and exercise in particular that can be used as establishing structure in our day to day lives. Whether this is going to the gym for an hour or going for a walk, it gives us a purpose and therefore a plan of action for the day, which is proven to help mental health by breaking the possible cycle of low motivation and isolation.

For some that experience anxiety, they may notice other symptoms going on for themselves such as the inability to get a good night’s sleep. Some people with anxiety can find they experience “racing” thoughts and rumination (overthinking). To help with this, some may adopt exercise to serve as a way of exhausting the body, ready for the night to help us with the sleeping issues we might have been experiencing.

Is walking good for anxiety?

This might sound like a simple question, but to some this could be an important one to ask. You may also be asking yourself:

• “Do I have time to exercise?”

• “How do I get started?”

• “What can I do to exercise?” – all of which are valid.

Walking can be an excellent start, it as a way to reduce anxiety, stress and even depression. When you add elements like a step tracker, you can motivate yourself to keep on top of daily steps and set mini challenges for yourself to get outdoors.

How to get started with exercise for anxiety and keep it up

Exercise and telling yourself you would like to exercise can be a daunting subject to face for some individuals, keep it sustainable and maintained in then a further challenge here. You can see below some tips to encourage yourself to get started as well as maintain exercise to support you with your mental health.

1. Be sure it fits well with you and your lifestyle

Not everyone will be able to compete or run a marathon, and this is something we do need to recognise and normalise. We are not all exercising for the same reasons and we do all have different capabilities to be aware of i.e. age, injuries, body types. Being sure that the exercise is something you can participate in comfortably will ensure that it is accessible. In terms of keeping it up, it does have to fit well within your lifestyle. For example, the time you have.

2. Keep it enjoyable

Ensure that the exercise or activity you are participating in is indeed something you enjoy. We notice when people are not enjoying what they do that they can build up a sense of resentment toward it. This can lead to the activity becoming a chore or even tedious for the individual leading further stopping the activity and therefore not seeing the benefits of the exercise. When people enjoy what it is they are doing we are more inclined to continue and keep up with it.

3. Set a goal

Goals are important in most aspects of life and are no different here when we discuss exercise. Setting goals can act as a roadmap for individuals, providing the steps that come once the goals are met. It is important to keep these goals achievable and realistic, being sure we can meet them is going to keep the momentum going.

4. Reward yourself

Rewarding yourself is important, giving yourself that “well done” can give you the motivation to do it again and continue to push yourself to reward yourself further. When we speak about rewards, we approach this in a way that is meaningful to us. Celebrating yourself is key and resonating with what we see as a reward is important.

5. Seek support

It is sometimes about recognising that support is there to keep you going, whether this be from friends to keep things social, or looking for guidance from professionals about different routines, exercises understanding that it will be OK to reach out for support. A great tool from the Wisdom app is the “beginner cardio workout” showing you that support does not have come from a person, but simple guidance can be what we need.

Wisdom App and Fitness

Getting started with using exercise to help with mental health and anxiety does not always have to involve “workouts” or something that involves high impact activity, something like Yoga can be effective at reducing anxiety and is low impact.

The wisdom app is an excellent resource for getting started and keeping up with physical activity. It also does have health tracking functions for example, step tracking, activity tracking and other tools to promote physical wellbeing including water intake and sleep which can serve as a great way of starting to adopt a healthier lifestyle along with the exercise to help manage anxiety.

Conclusion

Exercise does not have to be complex to manage anxiety. Walking, doing chair yoga or simple stretches can help. Anxiety is experienced differently per individual, so how we tackle it must be in the way that suits us as individuals. Don’t force yourself to do heavy workouts if they’re not helping your anxiety. Start slow, and build up if and when you want to.