Exercise Helps You Escape Reality
There is something magical about putting your body in motion. If you learn to be focused during your exercises, whether that is through music or socializing, you will find out very quickly that you enter a “fitness tunnel” that keeps you motivated to push harder during your workouts. This results in endorphins or “endogenous opioid neuropeptides” or “feel-good hormones” to be released by your Central Nervous System and Pituitary Gland into your system to help you feel good.
Your body literally interprets the intense exercise as fatigue and injury, and so it rewards you with natural painkillers to feel good. And guess what happens when you feel good? You keep exercising because you want more. And guess what happens when you keep exercising? You are distracted from depression, anxiety, worries, stress, work, relationships, etc.
Exercising is a natural remedy for treating mental health issues. Your body and mind click during exercising like two pieces of puzzle; they are both preoccupied with the workout. But when you are suffering from a mental illness, your mind is preoccupied with the symptoms and your body is just there, not really doing anything – see the disconnection?
Now that is not to suggest that you should no longer take psychiatric medications if you start exercising. It’s always best to talk to your psychiatrist about any changes in treatment, but I believe exercise and medications is better than medications alone.
Is exercising hard? Sure it is. You have to maintain your motivation, establish a routine, actually step outside your home and perform the activities. But is going to work or school hard? Just because you don’t get paid during exercising doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
With exercising, you reap the benefits that same day: your circulation (blood flow) is increased, your LDL (bad cholesterol) goes down and your HDL (good cholesterol) goes up, your glucose (sugar) is burned, your muscles start breaking down and rebuilding into a more fit and lean structure, and lastly: you are taking care of your mental health; you feel happier! The DSM movement is all about excellent mental health and proper fitness!
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 