Exercise and Mental Health

Why bother with exercise?

To work properly, your body needs regular exercise – and most of us feel good when we are active. Until the last 100 years or so, you had to be quite active to just live your everyday life. Now, in modern Western societies, so much of what we used to do is done by machines. We drive cars, so we walk less, vacuum cleaners make cleaning easy, and washing is done by a machine. At work we may not even have to move around in the office – it’s enough to sit at the computer. It doesn’t help that modern high-energy foods make us put on too much weight – or that, (in the West at least) food has never been cheaper or easier to buy.

So how can you start to get more active, day to day? You may be turned off by the word ‘exercise’ because:

I’ve never done it
I wasn’t good at sports at school
I would feel silly
Other people would make fun of me
It won’t help unless it hurts – ‘No pain, no gain’
It’s sweaty and uncomfortable
I’m too tired
I would rather do something else
It’s expensive
I think it will make me feel worse
I don’t have anyone to do it with
I don’t know where, when or how to start.

But – it doesn’t have to be about running around a track or working out in a gym. It can just be about being more active each day – perhaps just walking more, or taking the stairs rather than the lift. If medical problems stop you from doing one thing, there may be others that you can do.

What happens if you don’t do very much?

Some people can get away with doing very little and live to a ripe old age – but most of us can’t. Broadly speaking, the less you do, the more likely you are to end up with:

low mood / depression
tension and worry.

If you keep active, you are:

less likely to be depressed, anxious or tense
more likely to feel good about yourself
more likely to concentrate and focus better
more likely to sleep better
more likely to cope with cravings and withdrawal symptoms if you try to give up a habit such as smoking or alcohol
more likely to be able to keep mobile and independent as you get older
possibly less likely to have problems with memory and dementia.

So – don’t worry about not doing enough – get started by building a bit more physical activity into your daily life now. Even a small change can boost your morale, give you a sense of achievement and help you to feel better in yourself.

What might work for me?

Activity should:

Be enjoyable – if you don’t know what you might enjoy, try a few different things
Help you to feel more competent, or capable. Gardening or DIY projects can do this, as well getting you more active.
Give you a sense of control over your life – that you have choices you can make (so it isn’t helpful if you start to feel that you have to exercise). The sense that you are looking after yourself can also feel good.
Help you to escape for a while from the pressures of life.
Be shared. The companionship involved can be just as important as the physical activity.

Why does exercise work?

We are not yet exactly sure. There are several possibilities:

Most people in the world have always had to keep active to get food, water and shelter. This involves a moderate level of activity and seems to make us feel good. We may be built – or “hard wired” – to enjoy a certain amount of exercise. Harder exercise (perhaps needed to fight or flight from danger) seems to be linked to feelings of stress, perhaps because it is needed for escaping from danger.
Exercise seems to have an effect on certain chemicals in the brain, like dopamine and serotonin. Brain cells use these chemicals to communicate with each other, so they affect your mood and thinking.
Exercise can stimulate other chemicals in the brain called “brain derived neurotrophic factors”. These help new brain cells to grow and develop. Moderate exercise seems to work better than vigorous exercise.
Exercise seems to reduce harmful changes in the brain caused by stress.

How much exercise is enough for me?

Firstly – any exercise is better than none.
BUT a moderate level of exercise seems to work best.
This is roughly equivalent to walking fast, but being able to talk to someone at the same time.
You need to do about 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise on at least 5 days of every week. This can be done in one 30 minute session or broken up into shorter 10 or 15 minute sessions.
This can not only lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, but also seems to help depression – so you get a double benefit.
Don’t start suddenly – build more physical activity into your life gradually, in small steps.

When should I exercise?

As regularly as you can. There will be days when you just don’t feel like exercise – you may feel tired or be too busy or anxious about something. If you keep to your routine and exercise at times like this, you will almost certainly feel better. Why?

If you are tired, exercise tends to give you energy. If you are worried, it can take your mind off your concerns for a while. Even if you can’t ‘exercise’, a 15 minute walk can help you to clear your mind and relax. You may find it helpful to listen to music at the same time.

It’s best not to do too much in the evening. Being active will generally help you to sleep but, if you exercise late in the evening, you may find it difficult to settle.

Eating and energy levels

Caffeine and high energy snacks will boost your energy quickly – but after an hour or so you will probably feel more tired than you did before. A short walk will boost your energy level for much longer.

Exercise and Coping

If you are active you will probably find it easier to deal with life’s problems and challenges. So – if those problems stop you from regularly exercising, it’s worth remembering that finding time for exercise may well help you to deal with such problems.

Exercise can also help you to cope better by improving how you feel about yourself and getting you together with other people.

How well does exercise work for depression?

For mild depression, physical activity can be as good as antidepressants or psychological treatments like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

It can certainly be harder to get active when you are depressed. But being active lifts your mood and gives you a sense of being in control and in touch with other people.

In some areas in the UK, GPs (family doctors) can prescribe exercise.

What’s the downside?

Not much. If you are normally very active, you may get depressed if, for any length of time, you can’t exercise because of an injury. If this does happen, you can carry on with exercises using those parts of your body that are not injured. This will help you to keep fit, feel more in control and keep in touch with other people. It can help to set yourself targets – both for the next few days and longer, for the next weeks or months.

Some people with eating disorders use exercise to lose too much weight.

Some athletes (such as those in weight-related sports like horse racing, boxing and gymnastics) are more likely to develop eating disorders.

Physical exercise can cause injuries and some health problems – but you are much more likely to get ill if you don’t keep active. If in doubt, ask your doctor.

Getting down to it

Any physical activity needs to be something that you can do regularly. But lots of things can stop you, especially if you feel depressed. You may feel that you:

don’t have the energy
don’t feel confident enough
don’t know anybody to exercise with
don’t have the right clothes
can’t afford it
just aren’t the ‘exercise or sporty type’
won’t feel any differenrt for doing it.

Exercise can be about playing sport or doing hard-core exercise – if you want that. For other people, it is just about being more physically active and sitting around less. It doesn’t have to be hard – but try to do something every day.

Some things aren’t expensive – walking is free and jogging just needs a pair of trainers (cheap ones are fine). If you have a bike already, try cycling to work (or for any regular journey) – you may even save some money.

But don’t overdo it!

If you haven’t been active for a while, doing too much when you start can make you more tired – particularly if you also have a health problem (including depression) that makes you tired. One day you may have the energy to be really active but feel completely exhausted the next.

Whatever you choose to do, start with something easy – like walking round the block. Build your level up gradually, perhaps by just doing a minute or two more – or a few metres more – each day. Try to do something most days, even if you feel tired.

Start by working out how much you do already – you can use a pedometer to show you how many steps you take every day. Or you could keep a diary for a few days of how long you spend doing active things. Then set yourself some goals. Make sure they are:

S – Specific (clear)

M – Measurable – you will know when you’ve achieved them

A – Achievable – you can achieve them

R – Relevant – they mean something to you

T – Time-based – you set yourself a time limit to achieve your goals.

They need to be things you can see yourself doing – and take pride in, so you feel good about yourself. You may be able to do it on your own, or with some help from others.

Nobody’s perfect. You will have setbacks when you can’t meet a short term goal, or just feel too tired to do anything. Recognise it when it happens, but don’t worry about it. Tomorrow is another day and short term setbacks don’t matter in the bigger picture of your longer-term goals. And, if you need to, do ask someone else to give you a hand.

Source: Royal College of Psychiatrist