April is stress awareness month. Did you know that exercise can be a great way to reduce stress?
If I feel stressed my number one coping mechanism is to get outside and move my body. I know that however overwhelmed I feel, I can cope better if I exercise. The good news is that you can benefit from the stress reduction exercise offers through only 20-30 mins of mild to moderate exercise 3 times a week.
Here are 8 ways exercise helps relieve stress:
1. It reduces the stress hormones in the brain:
Exercise is proven to reduce the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and regulate the body’s fight or flight response. It also increases norepinephrine which can help the body respond to stress. In his book The Stress Solution, Dr Rangan Chatterjee discusses research showing how the chemical GABA is increased through exercise which encourages the brain into a calm state.
2. It helps build resilience in stressful situations:
During exercise the stress hormones in the body increase, in the short term, but they soon return to normal after exercise has finished. As Mithu Storoni in her book Stress Proof, notes “Exercise is a stressor. As you mount a small stress response to exercise repeatedly, your stress response becomes smaller. Regular exposure to exercise makes you better at recovering from it”.
3. It regulates the nervous system:
Exercising consistently helps the body to switch between the body’s sympathetic state (fight and flight) and parasympathetic state (rest and digest) more easily. This again allows for greater resilience to cope with stress. Exercise such as yoga is particuarly helpful in correcting a balance between the two states. Mithu Storoni notes that exercise can reduce rumination after a stressful experience by improving prefrontal control over the HPA-axis response (the body’s stress response axis).
4. It activates the brain’s reward system:
by giving the brain an immediate boost of feel good chemicals: dopamine, endocannabinoids, norepinephrine and serotonin. I’ve written lots about this in previous posts: Exercise and mental health why is it so good for our minds?
5. It improves blood flow to the brain
When we move our bodies more oxygen and other essential nutrients become readily available to the brain. This immediately makes us feel better.
6. Takes your mind off your stress and worries
The repetitive movement of exercise can be meditative and transform our state of mind. Exercising outside can be particularly beneficial in encouraging a meditative state.
7. It improves the quality and duration of your sleep
which in turn reduces levels of stress. People who regularly exercise tend to enjoy deeper more sound sleep. Studies have shown that exercise frequently increases total sleep time and the time it takes to fall asleep is reduced.
8. It can protect your telomeres
Dr Chatterjee also discusses the role of telomeres (protective material found at the end of our chromosomes inside our genetic material). If your telomeres are damaged you will age more prematurely and experience more stress. A study conducted in 2010 with stressed out women concluded that “vigorous physical activity appears to protect those experiencing high stress by buffering its relationship with telomeres”.
Next time you are feeling stressed…
Try to do a short burst of activity – a walk, a 7 minute workout, dance to your favourite songs, do 20 squats – and see how you feel after – I guarantee you will feel less stressed than when you started!
“exercise is one of the best ways to pull yourself out of a damaging stress state that’s been caused by too many Micro Stress Doses”.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee The Stress Solution
Beware of over-exercise
It’s important to note that over-exercising can have a negative effect and actually drive up the stress state as well as increasing inflammation and placing the immune system under threat. It’s important to listen to your body and feel what sort of exercise might be best. For example, if you have been really active are super busy at work, and are feeling tired and achey in your body then it might well be time to have a day off or do lighter exercise such as a walk or restorative yoga or pilates.
