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Introduction

We have always heard that exercise is needed in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Getting that better body, losing that weight, and getting yourself stronger is more than enough reasons to reach your goals physically. Although we do need to exercise to stay in great physical health, the mental health benefits are just as important. To function properly, we need our mental well being to be as strong as it can be, So we can see the most important moments in our lives and not let our minds get in the way of enjoying them. Here are the most effective 8 ways that exercise can improve your mental health. 

1. Improves Sleep

Working out helps you get better quality of sleep. It helps with the duration of how long you sleep, plus it alleviates sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea. Better sleep drastically enhances your mental state because you need sleep in order to function properly. You need your brain to recover so you can be fully alert and on top of your game. 


2. Reduces Stress

This is an obvious reason, but we all know the key to living a good life is by eliminating stress. By exercising, no matter what form of workout you choose to do, it will do the job. Whether its workouts such as jogging, lifting, or yoga all of the workouts to rid of stress hormones and calms you down. So whenever you feel like stress is starting to take over your life, go out for a jog or a hike and watch those stress levels go down.


3. Enhances Energy Levels

The more you exercise, the more energy you get. It has been scientifically proven that the more you move your body the less fatigued you become. Those who don’t move around a lot tend to lack things such as productivity, motivation, and over just slip into bad mental states. Working out often, evening if is just going out for a 30 minute walk, can drastically improve your energy levels and get you to be more productive in your life.

4. Boosts Confidence and Self - Esteem

As you start to work out regularly, you will start to see good changes in your body. When you start to see these changes, it will make you start to feel better about yourself. Whether your goal is to look good for the beach or fit into that wedding dress you’ve been wanting, your confidence and the self-esteem will spike due to you achieving these goals. So when working out, start setting those goals for yourself so you can celebrate those victories and feel and look like your best self.


5. Helps You To Become More Disciplined

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Exercising can be beneficial in many ways, but having an actual workout routine can improve the disciplinary factor in your life. We all can agree that life can get a little chaotic sometimes and it can be difficult to stay on track with things. But with adding a workout routine into your weekly things to do, it provides some sort of structure into your life that can get you back on track. By doing this and staying committed to it, you now have proof that you can stick to something and keep working on it without ever breaking the cycle.

6. Social Interactions

Joining certain exercise classes and groups allows you to interact with different people. It gives you a chance to make new friends and to build a community. From a mental perspective, having friends and a community makes you feel like you are not in this alone. When it comes to going out, celebrating milestones in the gym or in life, or just simply talking about life, having a community that’s around you that cares can heavily impact your mental health in a positive way.

7. Brain Health

When coming to improving brain health, exercise is one the best practices you can do.  Here are a few ways that working out can impact your brain.

Improves blood flow to the brain: One thing that is does is increases the blood flow to your brain. That improves your circulation which allows more oxygen and nutrients to come in. That inedibility improves overall brain health. function. 

Reduces Inflammation: Having inflammation a lot of information in the body is linked to cognitive declining. Exercising on a regular basis reduces a lot of that inflammation and improve your brain health. 

Improves your memory and learning: Aerobic exercises in particular, can improve your whole memory and learning process. There is a region of the brain called the hippocampus that controls your whole memory and learning cycle. Everytime you exercise you increase the size of it and it enhances your memory retention. That also allows your brain to learn new information.

8. Staying Present & Focus

Working out helps you stay present and to stay focus on the tasks your working on. Regular blood circulation, better quality of sleep, and and little to no stress are all the things you need to help your brain stay focus and being present. Another big aspect that helps you to improve your focus is breath working. Doing certain exercises such as yoga helps you to stay calm and focus on your breathing. It forces you to be in your body in that moment and focus on what’s important.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, Exercising can drastically improve your mental health. We all want to look good from the outside, but if your not good in your head, none of that really matters. Your mental space needs to be prioritized at all times to make you a better person to yourself and to others around you. Doing things such as exercising is a huge step to getting to being that person and being in the best mental space as you  possibly can. For more blogs on how to improve your mental health and being your best self on your journey to success, click here

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