Exercising is not just about physical health. The point of exercising is to also feel good mentally. Exercise for your mental health helps decrease your anxiety, improve your mood, promote the birth of new neurons in your brain and elevate your self-esteem and confidence. Not to mention, exercising feels amazing! When you feel physically and mentally good, you radiate that positive energy into the world and people can sense it. This can lead to an improvement in your relationships! Start with baby steps if you don’t currently exercise: every day, go for a 20 minute walk on the street. After doing this for a week or two, include some jogging, cycling, weights or whatever you enjoy. You’ll notice soon enough how beneficial exercising can be for your mental health.
Exercise and Mental Health: Cycling
Cycling is a great form of exercise and can be done in the convenience of your home. No, you don’t need to buy that $1500 Peloton bike. You can find cheaper bikes on Amazon under $1000 that will provide the same benefits. Cycling is convenient because what can be easier than sitting in place and moving your legs? If you have a bike with a screen and programming, the experience becomes even easier. Besides not being able to afford it or not having enough space in your home, there should be no reason why you shouldn’t by cycling; especially during the pandemic. You’ll tone your calves and upper legs as well as your abs. And mentally, trust me when I say that a 30 minute ride feels amazingly refreshing.
The Weights Are Waiting For You
Lifting weights can also be done in the comfort of your home. You can easily buy weights on Amazon and start lifting in your living room every day. The hardest part are not the weights but the discipline to pick them up and use them. It may be easier to start off with small weights so that you can motivate yourself to use them every day. Once your motivation is there, you can upgrade to heavier ones. If you start with heavy ones, you might get discouraged early on, especially if you don’t have a strong drive to work out. Lifting is great because it shapes your deltoids, triceps, biceps and forearm muscles. When your arms start looking bulkier, trust me when I say that your mental health will bulk up as well.
Stretching is Important
Lastly, you must stretch! I am so guilty of preaching this but not consistently doing it myself. Can you imagine? I cycle and life almost every day but I won’t stretch which is the easiest of them all. Stretching is important to prevent injuries and stiffness. You feel much better after immediately stretching and it will you to avoid stiffness during work. When I feel stiff during work and talking to patients, it becomes a distraction and affects my mental health. I end up feeling annoyed. The worst is when I feel pain that could have easily been prevented with stretching. So if you start exercising after reading this, don’t forget to stretch.
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 