Psychological benefits of exercise

Physical Activity for Mental Well-being

Even though it may sound strange atfirst, but every time you expose your body to a physical workout, youare helping your brain and your nervous system as well. Therefore, insuch situations, you are improving your mental condition byexercising. Thus, besides physical advancement, you can benefit froma mental and psychological one too.

In order to see this connection andperceive it correctly, you need to know several things. First of all,whenever we expose our body to physical activity like running orworking out in any other way, it thinks that we are in some kind ofdanger, needing additional strength in order to cope with it. Then,apart from pumping more blood into our muscles, our organism releasesour body's natural painkiller and tranquilizer, endorphin, whichmakes us more relaxed and happy. All in all, by doing some advancedphysical activity, you are bound to experience the same effect youcan when you use marijuana or similar “happy” drugs. The onlydifference lies in the fact that working out is completely healthyand incomparably more useful.

Other Mental Benefits of Working Out

Believe it or not, working out makesyou smarter. Researches have shown that those who indulge into anykind of exercising regularly, develop their brain activity and theirmemory capabilities significantly. This activity also boosts their IQand gives birth to brand new brain cells. This is logical, since,once you actively exercise, you use your brain to coordinate betweenyour thoughts and your movements, thereby creating new bonds in yourneurological system. These new nervous circuits result in developingnew aspects of your brain usage, thus developing it.

Another important product of exercisingis testosterone. This hormone is very important for us. It makes ourmuscles more lean and help us form our body better. However, it alsogives us strength, good mood and confidence, at the same timeincreasing our sex drive. All this results in our better physicalperformance, regardless of the activity we choose to do, and ourgreat, positive state of mind.

Other positive sides working out has onour mental state are the obvious physical advancement and strengthboosting, resulting in greater self-confidence, and self-esteem.Namely, if we ourselves realize that we are attractive due to all theeffort we have put in our body, we will feel that way. Thus, ourconfidence levels will be high, and this will emit out of us,increasing our appeal even further. This helps us get into newrelationships, deal with many obstacles in our lives with more easeand advance constantly.