Helps You Fight Stress: Every day there are more and more stressful situations. A new day brings another portion of stress and not everyone is ready for an unexpected flood of fear and negative emotions. How do you relieve stress, calm down and stop fidgeting? How to deal with a chronic attack of anxiety and not to drive myself into depression? How to deal with negative emotions without focusing on debilitating thoughts? You can read your favorite books, play at CasinoChan Canada, or go out with your friends, but these methods are not always working.
You cannot avoid stressful situations, but to get them under control is possible. And the best way to shift attention, relax, relieve stress and tension is physical activity.
Why Fitness Relieves Stress
We react to stressful situations in the same way as our remote ancestors did thousands of years ago:
- The adrenal glands instantly release the stress hormone adrenaline into the blood.
- The liver releases sugar and fat, sources of fuel, into the blood.
- Blood pressure rises sharply, the pulse quickens.
- The muscles tense up.
- Breathing speeds up.
The body mobilizes all energy resources to make a serious muscular effort – to fight or run. Our primitive ancestors fought the enemy or ran for their lives. They properly expended the energy that was released in the body as a result of physiological processes.
How does the modern man deal with stress? There is no reason for him to run, no one to fight. The energy intended for escape remains unspent. Norepinephrine, adrenaline still wander in the body for a long time, not allowing the nervous system to calm down. And this doesn’t happen once or twice a day, signals of danger – real or imagined, our brain receives much more often. The body is rapidly expanding its energy and is quickly exhausted.
How to calm the nerves and relieve stress? And how does sport help to fight stress?
From a physiological point of view, it’s sport and fitness that helps to relieve the effects of stress in a safe and constructive way. By exercising, we use stress energy to our advantage, thus protecting the body from fatigue and wear and tear.
Fitness Will Get You out of Stress
Medical studies have shown that after a workout, anxiety levels and neuromuscular tension are reduced for several hours. That’s why, even when you start working out in a near-stressful state, you feel calm and peaceful after physical activity, along with pleasant fatigue.
By incorporating exercise into your daily schedule, you will be forced to redirect your attention from the situation that is bothering you to another. Even a short-term attention shift like a 15-30 minute workout will bring relief, relieve stress, calm your nerves and get rid of emotional clamps in your body.
Endorphins, which your body will produce after 20-30 minutes of exercise, also do their part in calming the nerves. The functions of these wonderful happiness hormones are to suppress pain, block out fear, and reduce anxiety. They will also give you a feeling of euphoria.
But does this mean that any type of physical activity reduces stress? No, there are workouts that aren’t recommended.
When Sports Are a Source of Stress
Training to the point of exhaustion, to the point of exhaustion, not only doesn’t increase your stress tolerance, but it corners your body. Sometimes heavy exercise brings temporary relief, but the next day the condition worsens. A feeling of lethargy appears, sleep is disturbed – this is a signal to the body that the load was excessive.
Because of the accumulated fatigue the body does not have time to recover, and, feeling the overload, can activate defense mechanisms. The load on the adrenal glands increases, which leads to overproduction of the stress hormone cortisol, exhaustion, and general fatigue.
Powerful strength training is stressful in itself, so it’s better to postpone it until better times. The optimal variant for the psychological state of a person under stress is a moderate physical activity. It allows you to survive negative emotions without exhausting the body with disturbing thoughts, and concentrating on the correct technique of exercising and breathing.
What Exercises Help With Stress
Running is one of the most effective methods of combating stress. American psychiatrist John Greist conducted an experiment. He divided people suffering from depression into two groups. For one group, a 10-day program of running was developed, the people of the other group received help from a psychiatrist. The results of the study confirmed that running turned out to be a more effective exercise to relieve stress than psychotherapy sessions.
Stretching, Pilates, and ballet fitness relieve stress, distract from negative thoughts, and teach concentration and focus. At the same time, the body doesn’t produce side effects in the form of stress hormones.
Yoga is an ideal exercise to combat stress. Concentrating on asanas and proper breathing reduces stress levels and clarifies the mind.
When the body is severely exhausted, a leisurely walk and meditation is the best choice.
Regular Fitness Training Is the Key to Success in the Fight Against Stress
Summarizing what has been written, we can say that now all mankind is under global stress. The load on the psyche is increasing, and it’s important to keep your condition under control.
Physical activity, exercises to relieve stress and tension are the safest method of treating stress. Unlike medication, fitness not only improves the mental state, but also increases self-esteem, transforming the energy of stress from destructive to productive, aimed at improving the quality of life.
Frequency of Exercise
How often should you exercise to be in a good mood? You can do morning exercise and yoga every day, or walk to work if possible.
If training requires a lot of exertion (gym, swimming, etc.) two to three times a week will be enough. The body needs rest and the muscles need a certain amount of time to recover. Too frequent training is the mistake of many beginners.
Try to work out for at least 20-30 minutes three times a week. Start exercising for 20 minutes and gradually increase the time. When you get used to exercising and it becomes routine, you can change the time and diversify the exercises for more interest.
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