Feeling a little anxious? You’re not alone 🙂 Build some muscle to boost your mood!
It’s common knowledge here in Oz (the country of fitness enthusiasts and sports lovers!), that exercising and breaking a sweat is a wonderful antidote to a stressful day.
People have long relied on exercise to help soothe anxiety. Moving the body releases the ‘feel-good chemicals’ (dopamine, endorphine, serotonin and nonrepinephrine), which can “improve self-esteem, relieve stress, and drive positive structural changes in the brain” (inverse.com).
Passionate mental health advocate Nick Bracks (ex-Premier Steve Bracks’) son, hosted a daily live workout on Instagram during iso. He often shares on social media how his mental health benefits from a routine of daily resistance-based training.
Turns out he’s really onto something. The latest research shows that mentally healthy young adults (aged 18 -40) experienced a significant reduction in anxiety from two relatively basic strength-training sessions per week.
In a great article entitled “Stressed Out? Study Pinpoints a Form of Exercise that Reduces Anxiety”, Penn State researcher and co-author Brett Gordon, emphasises that the results showed even more improvement in anxiety levels than expected, and that “equipment can be helpful, but not required..people can lift weights, use resistance bands, or use body-weight exercises such as push-ups, lunges, squats, etcetera”.
These new findings are even more important given the stress of 2020, and the ‘new normal’ we are still adapting to. Unless you are an enlightened yogi (lol), most of our nervous systems need it… So mix up your workout routine with some free weight or bodyweight exercises!
Stay well,
The Stable Team