For those who suffer from depression, anxiety or both, the idea of moving your body can feel daunting and unachievable. Regardless, we all know it’s true that moving around can lead to an abundance of great outcomes, so sometimes you just have to move! We rounded up a few of the best workouts for anxiety and depression:
Running
It can be a drag for some, but there’s a reason you constantly hear about running being incredible for your health and wellness. Not only does it burn energy like nothing else, but it also reduces food cravings, lowers your risk for heart disease and best of all? It improves your mental health!
Running causes a change in the neurotransmitters of our brain, creating long-lasting effects for our serotonin and norepinephrine levels both during and after exercising. The repetitive motions of running have also been found to create a meditative effect on our brain.Running may even work in a similar way to antidepressants, leaving room for major depressive disorder to fall by the wayside.
The last reason for running being a great workout for depression or anxiety is its powerful effect on sleep. Running makes it easier to fall asleep, which in turn benefits your overall mental health.
Walking or hiking outside
This workout may be the antidote to all of your problems, but there’s one major reason why: nature. To maximise the mental health benefits of your workout routine, try taking it outside, hitting the trails or exercising with a view. The presence of plants, trees and critters produce a calming effect to the mind, and the shining sun will boost your body’s levels of vitamin D, adding more benefits to your mental health.
Yoga
It’s the practice of the deities, so it makes sense that yoga would offer a myriad of mental health benefits. Those partaking in yoga experience significant reductions in depression, anxiety, anger and negative neurological symptoms. Yoga is often advised as a supplementary assistance to the treatment of anxiety and depression, and we can see why!