27 Dec Exercise Makes You Happy

Do you realize that exercise actually makes you happy? Exercise changes the way your brain functions.  Here’s how it works. Physical exercise causes the release of 3 neurotransmitters commonly associated with mental health, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.  Research has shown that these 3 neurotransmitters all impact your mood and brain function.  Experiencing the winter doldrums or post holiday crash?  Try a bit of exercise and see how you feel.

Exercise has been shown to combat both depression and anxiety, in the short term and long term.  It’s equally efficient for men and women, too.  More exercise means improved brain function, which leads to improvement in mood, cognitive skills, and your thinking processes. Exercise is not only good for your body, but extremely good for your mind, research is consistently discovering.  While we are living in a what appears to be a global epidemic of obesity (the stats continue to rise, unfortunately), we basically have a “magic bullet” (if there is one) for improving human health and performance.  Exercise is that “magic bullet”.

Simply incorporating regular exercise into your lifestyle is incredibly effective in enhancing self esteem, improving confidence, and increasing feelings of well being.  Don’t you think if you feel all of this, you’ll be a lot happier?  It’s really interesting how much of an impact exercise really makes.  Consider coming off of a Holiday, as we just have.  You may tend to feel a little guilty about the food you just ate this holiday season, maybe you’re already feeling a bit more out of shape.

A simple exercise session can do you a world of good and drastically change how you feel.  It can energize you and make you feel “healthy” again, after taking a “detour” over the Holidays.  I know this because that’s just what happened to me.  Even though, I was able to “eat well” through the Holidays, getting back in the exercise routine is an amazing thing.  A quick, intense exercise session can get you right back on track and it does a powerful thing to your mind. It elevates your state of being, and it does this quickly.

Beyond just making you happier, just a few sessions of regular exercise per week, has been shown to increase problem solving skills, intelligence, and memory.  Bottom line, exercise dramatically improves yoru brain power, along with your mood.  So, beyond the benefits of looking great, keeping the weight off, and feeling great, you’re brain function will be improved in more ways than you probably even thought.  And new research is consistently coming out in this area, demonstrating the benefits of exercise on brain function and reducing some terrible mental diseases, such as dementia and alzheimer’s disease. That alone, should make you happy!

This is Day 27 of 31 Days of Smart Fitness.

Just a few more days left this year.  Are you ready for a great New Year?

You know where to find me tomorrow.