If you’ve ever struggled with your stress levels and mental health (which, let’s face it, we all have at some point), you’ve probably heard about the benefits of exercising and the supposed effects on mood – probably thinking nothing of it.
While it’s a pretty common point of discussion in the fitness community, It sounds strange right?
If you’re feeling stressed or a little low, going out for a run or hitting the gym might be the last thing you feel like doing.
Yet with this advice being so common, we’ve been having a think about why, and how, or if this is the case? With World Mental Health Day on the horizon, we want to know the science behind this link.
What are the benefits of exercise on mental health, why does working out make you happier, and what are the chemicals going on that cause this? We’ve done the research so that you don’t have to.
What are the benefits of regular exercise?
Let’s get the basics out the way.
Regular exercise is a great way to implement routine into your life. As we previously wrote about in our beginner’s gym guide, workouts such as weight training, cardio and are great for:
- Enhancing cardiovascular health (promoting a healthy heart),
- Increasing your energy
- Managing muscle growth,
- Upping your stamina
- Improving your overall health and performance
While these physical benefits are wildly known within workout communities, you might not actually realise the close relationship between this and mental health. According to a recent study, in addition to the benefits mentioned above, ‘physical activity also affects mental health positively’.
So, what does this mean, and where does the science come in?
This leads us swiftly on to the additional links between exercise and mental health.
Why does exercise improve mental health?
The scientific link between exercise and mental health is pretty simple, actually.
When we exercise, feel-good hormones called endorphins are released. These endorphins include serotonin and dopamine, which are often described as happy hormones, and this means that when we engage in aerobic exercise techniques such as running, swimming, skipping and other high-intensity exercises, we begin to feel rushes of happiness.
Exercise also leads to exercise-induced processes such as an increased level of blood circulation, and this is integral in the triggering of stress-busting body functions. Exercise is also a key player in reducing harmful immune system chemicals that have been proven to make depression worse.
With this in mind, a varied exercise plan has plenty of benefits on individual mental health such as:
- Reduced stress and anxiety - exercise helps regulate a chemical in the body called cortisol. This is the ‘stress chemical’ of the body that exercise helps to keep in balance – reducing chronic stress while also lowering the chance of serious fatigue (a symptom of very low cortisol in the body).
- Improved self-esteem – one key benefit of the release of endorphins is a sense of accomplishment, this can significantly enhance self-esteem and confidence.
- Reduced depression symptoms – endorphin production can also enhance mood and reduce pain perceptioN, helping to alleviate symptoms of depression by promoting a sense of wellbeing and reducing emotional distress.
-
Improved sleep – we’ve previously discussed the importance of sleep, but it does always bear repeating. Exercise balances cortisol levels and helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle by promoting alertness during the day and relaxation at night.
That link makes a bit more sense now, right?
While the increased production of cortisol helps regulate mood and therefore stress, the previously mentioned endorphins reducing feelings of anxiousness and depression. Released by the pituitary gland in the brain, our endorphins stimulate receptors in your body and therefore each play different roles in the regulation of your mood.
To break things down even further, we’ve gone into more detail on both endorphins and the unique role they play in mood regulation.
How does increased endorphin production improve mental health?
Serotonin
Firstly, serotonin.
The release of serotonin into your blood is hugely important when it comes to regulating your mood. This is because your serotonin levels are pretty influential when it comes to quality of sleep and hunger levels – all of which have a notable effect on how you feel overall.
Research consistently shows that high and maintained serotonin levels lead to a boost in mood, whilst low levels of serotonin have regularly been linked to increased risk of depression. This research reiterates the importance of maintaining a regular exercise routine to ensure that your serotonin never reduces to these harmful levels.
Dopamine
Dopamine is another happy hormone that is greatly influential in your mood. This hormone is made by the body and plays a vital role in how we experience pleasure, and therefore has a key effect on our mood. Dopamine is even sometimes referred to as the ultimate motivator due to the boost of motivation and happiness that you get from dopamine releases.
The result of the release of these hormones and neurotransmitters during and after exercise clearly explains the link between improved mood and exercise. This link can be so strong, in fact, that athletes and fitness fanatics that engage in aerobic exercise sometimes report experiencing feelings of runner’s high.
What is runner's high?
Runner's high is a phenomenon experienced after aerobic exercise (aka, cardio) that has been described ‘as if you’re on top of the world’, and is something that happens when you hit your stride with your workout. You might surprise yourself when it comes to how far you can run or swim, with athletes reporting feelings of weightlessness and euphoria, which of course has excellent mental health benefits.
After athletes have engaged in a long stint of exercise, many report that they feel as if they can continue (even after running miles and miles), citing feelings and health benefits of runner's high such as lessened anxiety, easier recovery, reduced pain and elevated mood.
Don’t be fooled – runner's high is real. It’s not a myth, we promise. Whilst runner's high hasn’t been extensively investigated due to the complex nature of the phenomenon, existing research surrounding runner's high has supported the existence of this process.
Aside from a huge boost in your mood, runner's high provides a range of other health benefits that you can begin to reap:
- Improved sleep quality
- Increased energy levels
- Great source of stress release
- Reduced cholesterol levels
- Boost in libido
- Increased mental alertness
After feeling the effects of this runner's high, many people adopt various techniques to try and induce this feeling due to the outlined benefits, and we can’t really blame them. These techniques include:
- When you want to stop, push yourself to continue
- Ensure you are properly hydrated and fuelled up
- Stay consistent throughout your exercise
- Start slow and increase your speed and intensity
How to get the most out of your mood building workouts
While we’ve gone over the science of why exercise is one of the most effective natural ways to lift your mood, everyone is different, and not all workouts impact your mental wellbeing in the same way. As such, we’ve included a couple of additional factors to consider that might help you maximise the mental benefits of your routine:
- Choose workouts you enjoy – It sounds obvious, but enjoying the workout itself encourages consistency and releases more of those lovely endorphins.
- Aim for 30+ minutes – by exercising for around 30 minutes, it is often enough to trigger a noticeable mood lift.
- Don’t overtrain – excessive exercise can actually spike cortisol levels and leave you feeling stressed in a workout rut.
- Listen to music – Listening to music that you love and motivates you can make you feel even more positive during a workout.
- Stay consistent – Consistency is key here as you want to make sure that you continue to reap the mental benefits of a workout routine.
-
Try unique workouts – while exercising regularly is key, it’s always a good idea to try and vary up what you’re doing to keep things stimulating. Try different workouts from solo to group activities as well as from cardio to lifting sessions.
Exercise and Mental Health
So, overall, it’s clear that exercise is beneficial for maintaining your mental health. Everyone should make a conscious effort to exercise to be able to reap the benefits of exercise and ease any symptoms you are perhaps suffering from.
That leads us to the big question: does exercise make you happy?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Whilst exercise is a great scientifically backed way to improve your mood, it is not a cure or solution on it’s own. If you’re struggling this World Mental Health Day or week or whenever you might be reading this, please make sure you reach out for help. You’re never alone, and everyone struggles with their mental health: it’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
At Innermost we are huge advocates for taking care of your mental health: it’s just as important as your physical health. You can’t maintain one without the other. We often try and offer advice and guidance in this area, so check out Our Top 8 Mental Health Apps, and get in contact with one (or all) of the below charities to get some expert and informed help and advised when it comes to your mental health:
References
- Boecker, H., Sprenger, T., Spilker, M. E., Henriksen, G., Koppenhoefer, M., Wagner, K. J., ... & Tolle, T. R. (2008). The runner's high: opioidergic mechanisms in the human brain. Cerebral cortex, 18(11), 2523-2531. Click here.
- Cowen, P. J., & Browning, M. (2015). What Has Serotonin To Do With Depression? World Psychiatry, 14(2), 158. Click here.
- Reiche, E. M. V., Nunes, S. O. V., & Morimoto, H. K. (2004). Stress, depression, the immune system, and cancer. The lancet oncology, 5(10), 617-625. Click here.
- Young, S. N., & Leyton, M. (2002). The role of serotonin in human mood and social interaction: insight from altered tryptophan levels. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 71(4), 857-865. Click here.
