How Movement Minimizes Depression & Anxiety
Movement is tied to mental out and its outcomes. It has been proven many times and in this blog, Leina and I want to share the why’s and the how’s.
How long do you need to move your body each day in order to reap the mental health benefit?
Just moving our bodies for 15 to 20 minutes a day, does a lot for our mental health. If you walk at least one mile, you will definitely meet that 15-minute goal. One thing that I learned when I was doing some of my brain training several years ago, is that when you can reach an aerobic state you're actually increasing the blood flow to your prefrontal cortex. That part of your brain that lies just underneath your forehead, and is the seat of wisdom and logic and accurate perception, by the way, will get more blood flow and get stronger.
When I am in a depressive episode, the hardest thing to do is move and so that's why throughout our podcast, and in our program, The Whole Health Lab, we talk a lot about many steps and micro-steps. Because those are things that are less overwhelming to the brain.
You never want to move when you need it the most
When you're not mentally feeling well, movement is one of the things you absolutely do not want to do. There is research that shows that acting even when we don't want to, can actually help our brain, and of course, help with building resilience. One thing that helps me when I'm feeling really low energy or depressed or anxious is if I have an accountability partner.
When I have an accountability partner, it is very unusual that I'm going to flake on them. If it is only myself, I will absolutely let myself down when I'm feeling depressed. Find an accountability partner, and move together. Put it on your calendar so that it is a part of your day, and you're not gonna just let it slide when things get busy.
Who is exercising in the US?
So what research shows is actually only 60% of us, slightly over half of adults have regular physical activity. There's a good chunk of us that are not engaging in regular movement. About 40% of US adults are not moving regularly.
Regular physical activity is absolutely correlated with lower rates of depression, and lower rates of anxiety in adults. One of the challenges over the last few years that has been reported is an increase in reported incidents of anxiety and depression among American adults and children. Movement is a free way to elevate your levels of hormones, serotonin, and endorphins, and all of the processes in our body that contribute to better rates of mental health, lower rates of depression, and less anxiety.
Ways to Move for Your Mental Health
Walk 15 minutes or 1 mile a day.
Turn up the music and dance it out (Shout out to Grey’s Anatomy!)
Ride your bike
Play tag with your kiddos or grandchildren
When I think about anxiety, and depression, the things that I have read and studied over the years, indicate that physical activity at a moderate or high intensity actually is really effective for anxiety. I will oftentimes find in my office that my adult clients are runners or swimmers or soccer players, and they have found ways to mitigate some of their anxiety a lot of times, just instinctively, they find these ways, and they find those ways to mitigate anxiety.
It’s so much more than just blood flow
One of the things I want to point out about anxiety and movement is that when we move our body, it's not simply that we're getting more blood flow to the prefrontal cortex or that our endorphins are raised. There's actually evidence that shows that it helps us overall with regulating our nervous system. The nervous system is what controls all our autonomic responses, including breathing and our heart rate, and so forth.
When we find something that will actually regulate our nervous system consistently, what that is doing is it's widening our window of tolerance. And when we have a stressor come in or we start exercising more that same stressor is going to affect us less. It's not that it won't be there. It's that we're increasing the regulation of our nervous system
I would love to invite you to take our free quiz, Do I Have Trauma or Toxic Stress? This short quiz will help you understand the level of trauma or toxic stress that is affecting your life and we will give you steps towards learning how to control their symptoms.
