In this era of rapid hike in the growth of “metabolic syndrome”, obesity, and chronic diseases associated with sedentary behavior, many people hit the gym or pound the pavement to improve their physical health, body physique, sex life, and lose some weight. But many pieces of evidence reveal that exercise has above-the-neck benefits too which the majority of people forget to consider. A regular workout can make you more energetic all day long, sleep tight at night, have enhanced memories, and help in dealing with depression, anxiety, stress, and anger. Exercise is one of the most powerful medicine, free of side effects, for all the common mental health challenges. You can avail yourself of all these benefits of exercise even if you are not a fitness fanatic. A modest amount of daily exercise will help you reap the physical, mental, and emotional benefits associated with an active lifestyle. This fact sheet will tell you more about the mental and emotional health benefits that exercise has to offer to active souls.

Helps ease depression:

It is proved that regular workouts can treat mild to moderate depression as effectively as any antidepressant medication. Moreover, unlike those amphetamines, exercise doesn’t have any long term or short term side effects. When you do some physical activity regularly in your workout tank top and shorts, you become so focused on your workout that you forget all your worries, anxiety, and depressions. Exercise promotes all kinds of positive changes in the brain, from neural growth to new activity patterns that result in instilling feelings of calm and well-being in you.

Controls stress:

The world is going very fast and to deal with its pace, everyone is working more than his capacity. People are always dealing with deadlines and other work pressures. These conditions give rise to your stress level. And exercise acts as a remedy for reducing your stress level and make us all happier. Exercise sometimes acts as a distraction from your mental health issues and other times it improves cognition, mood, and ameliorates your clouded thinking resulted from stressful events.

Increases your self-esteem and self-confidence:

Besides all those innumerable physical health benefits that exercise offers to active souls, there are a myriad number of physical abilities that you can enhance with the help of regular workouts. These improved physical abilities and revamped physical health can all add up to a whopping boost of self-esteem and the confidence that comes with it.

Prevents cognitive decline:

As we age our brain cells start dying which can damage our cognitive abilities and we may lose some important brain functions in the process. Exercise and mindful eating can’t shun off this degeneration of brain cells but they can slow down the process. Exercising regularly, especially between the age of 25 and 45, boosts your brain health for avoiding memory loss and enhancing learning abilities.

Improves your sleep:

Depression, stress, obesity, and other physical and mental issues make you sleepless. People in the later parts of their lives face these conditions even more severely. Many people dealing with these conditions take sleeping pills which come with several side effects. Exercise is a side effects free solution to these emotional problems. Even short bursts of exercise in the dawn or afternoon can help regulate your sleep patterns. And if you do relaxing exercises such as yoga or gentle stretching in the evening, you can effectively improve your sleep.

Manages the feeling of hopelessness:

If your life is so challenging and you are failing in every other challenge, you will fall victim to hopelessness. Exercise is the best way to boost your morale and instill some positive energy in you so that you can work even harder to smile in the face of all those challenges.

The Bottom Line:

Obesity is spreading at an uncontrollable pace and to deal with it people have started following an active lifestyle which is very good.  But for those who don’t have any physical issues that can bring them to a gym class, there are a great number of mental health benefits (like dealing with anxiety, depression, stress, and anger) of exercise too. If you want to avail yourself of all these benefits and many more buy yourself a workout tank top and workout bottom before signing up for a gym class.