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This page talks about how depression and anxiety can be eased with exercising.

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Depression and anxiety: Exercise eases symptoms

Depression and anxiety symptoms often improve with exercise. Here are some realistic tips to help you get started and stay motivated.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
When you have depression or anxiety, exercise often seems like the last thing you want to do. But once you get motivated, exercise can make a big difference.

Exercise helps prevent and improve a number of health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis. Research on depression, anxiety and exercise shows that the psychological and physical benefits of exercise can also help improve mood and reduce anxiety.

The links between depression, anxiety and exercise aren't entirely clear - but working out and other forms of physical activity can definitely ease symptoms of depression or anxiety and make you feel better. Exercise may also help keep depression and anxiety from coming back once you're feeling better.

How does exercise help depression and anxiety?

Regular exercise may help ease depression and anxiety by:

Releasing feel-good endorphins, natural cannabis-like brain chemicals (endogenous cannabinoids) and other natural brain chemicals that can enhance your sense of well-being

Taking your mind off worries so you can get away from the cycle of negative thoughts that feed depression and anxiety

Regular exercise has many psychological and emotional benefits, too. It can help you:

Gain confidence. Meeting exercise goals or challenges, even small ones, can boost your self-confidence. Getting in shape can also make you feel better about your appearance.

Get more social interaction. Exercise and physical activity may give you the chance to meet or socialize with others. Just exchanging a friendly smile or greeting as you walk around your neighborhood can help your mood.

Cope in a healthy way. Doing something positive to manage depression or anxiety is a healthy coping strategy. Trying to feel better by drinking alcohol, dwelling on how you feel, or hoping depression or anxiety will go away on its own can lead to worsening symptoms.

Is a structured exercise program the only option?

Some research shows that physical activity such as regular walking - not just formal exercise programs - may help improve mood. Physical activity and exercise are not the same thing, but both are beneficial to your health.

Physical activity is any activity that works your muscles and requires energy and can include work or household or leisure activities.

Exercise is a planned, structured and repetitive body movement done to improve or maintain physical fitness.

The word "exercise" may make you think of running laps around the gym. But exercise includes a wide range of activities that boost your activity level to help you feel better.

Certainly running, lifting weights, playing basketball and other fitness activities that get your heart pumping can help. But so can physical activity such as gardening, washing your car, walking around the block or engaging in other less intense activities. Any physical activity that gets you off the couch and moving can help improve your mood.

You don't have to do all your exercise or other physical activity at once. Broaden how you think of exercise and find ways to add small amounts of physical activity throughout your day. For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park a little farther away from work to fit in a short walk. Or, if you live close to your job, consider biking to work.

How much is enough?

Doing 30 minutes or more of exercise a day for three to five days a week may significantly improve depression or anxiety symptoms. But smaller amounts of physical activity - as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time - may make a difference. It may take less time exercising to improve your mood when you do more-vigorous activities, such as running or bicycling.

The mental health benefits of exercise and physical activity may last only if you stick with it over the long term - another good reason to focus on finding activities that you enjoy.

How do I get started - and stay motivated?

Starting and sticking with an exercise routine or regular physical activity can be a challenge. These steps can help:

Identify what you enjoy doing. Figure out what type of physical activities you're most likely to do, and think about when and how you'd be most likely to follow through. For instance, would you be more likely to do some gardening in the evening, start your day with a jog, or go for a bike ride or play basketball with your children after school? Do what you enjoy to help you stick with it.

Get your mental health professional's support. Talk to your doctor or mental health professional for guidance and support. Discuss an exercise program or physical activity routine and how it fits into your overall treatment plan.

Set reasonable goals. Your mission doesn't have to be walking for an hour five days a week. Think realistically about what you may be able to do and begin gradually. Tailor your plan to your own needs and abilities rather than setting unrealistic guidelines that you're unlikely to meet.

Don't think of exercise or physical activity as a chore. If exercise is just another "should" in your life that you don't think you're living up to, you'll associate it with failure. Rather, look at your exercise or physical activity schedule the same way you look at your therapy sessions or medication - as one of the tools to help you get better.

Analyze your barriers. Figure out what's stopping you from being physically active or exercising. If you feel self-conscious, for instance, you may want to exercise at home. If you stick to goals better with a partner, find a friend to work out with or who enjoys the same physical activities that you do. If you don't have money to spend on exercise gear, do something that's cost-free, such as regular walking. If you think about what's stopping you from being physically active or exercising, you can probably find an alternative solution.

Prepare for setbacks and obstacles. Give yourself credit for every step in the right direction, no matter how small. If you skip exercise one day, that doesn't mean you can't maintain an exercise routine and might as well quit. Just try again the next day. Stick with it.

Do I need to see my doctor?

Check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program to make sure it's safe for you. Talk to your doctor to find out which activities, how much exercise and what intensity level is OK for you. Your doctor will consider any medications you take and your health conditions. He or she may also have helpful advice about getting started and staying motivated.

If you exercise regularly but depression or anxiety symptoms still interfere with your daily living, see your doctor or mental health professional. Exercise and physical activity are great ways to ease symptoms of depression or anxiety, but they aren't a substitute for talk therapy (psychotherapy) or medications.

See more In-depth

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Depression and anxiety: Exercise eases symptoms

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Depression and anxiety symptoms often improve with exercise. Here are some realistic tips to help you get started and stay motivated. By Mayo Clinic Staff When you have depression or anxiety, exercise often seems like the last thing you want to do. But once you get motivated, exercise can make a big difference.

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This page talks about the benefits of exercise regarding repression and anxiety.

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Abstract

Millions of Americans suffer from clinical depression each year. Most depressed patients first seek treatment from their primary care providers. Generally, depressed patients treated in primary care settings receive pharmacologic therapy alone. There is evidence to suggest that the addition of cognitive-behavioral therapies, specifically exercise, can improve treatment outcomes for many patients. Exercise is a behavioral intervention that has shown great promise in alleviating symptoms of depression. The current review discusses the growing body of research examining the exercise-depression relationship that supports the efficacy of exercise as an adjunct treatment. Databases searched were Medline, PsycLit, PubMed, and SportsDiscus from the years 1996 through 2003. Terms used in the search were clinical depression, depression, exercise, and physical activity. Further, because primary care physicians deliver important mental health services to the majority of depressed patients, several specific recommendations are made regarding counseling these patients on the adoption and maintenance of exercise programs.

Depression affects roughly 9.5% of the U.S. adult population each year, and it is estimated that approximately 17% of the U.S. population will suffer from a major depressive episode at some point in their lifetime.1, 2 Depression has been ranked as the leading cause of disability in the United States, with over $40 billion being spent each year on lost work productivity and medical treatment related to this illness.3-6 Recent research suggests that between the years of 1987 and 1997, the rate of outpatient treatment for depression in the United States tripled and that health care costs related to this disorder continue to rise.7

The vast majority of those suffering from depression first seek treatment from their primary care providers.8 As such, it has been estimated that the prevalence of depression in primary care settings is 3 times that in community samples, and rates for minor depression and dysthymia are even greater, ranging from 5% to 16% of patients.8, 9 Depressed patients treated in primary care settings receive predominantly pharmacologic therapy, with fewer receiving adjunct cognitive or behavioral interventions.7 As a result, it is likely that many of these patients are not educated regarding nonpharmacologic strategies for managing the symptoms of their depression. Treatment of clinical depression can be improved by the addition of cognitive-behavioral therapies,10 and by exercise. Research has also shown that depressed patients are less fit and have diminished physical work capacity on the order of 80% to 90% of age-predicted norms,11-14 which in turn may contribute to other physical health problems. Therefore, primary care providers are uniquely positioned to promote behavioral approaches, such as exercise, that complement pharmacologic treatment and may ultimately provide relief from this chronic and often treatment-resistant disorder as well as enhance overall physical well-being. The current review discusses the growing body of research examining the exercise-depression relationship. Databases searched were Medline, PsycLit, PubMed, and SportsDiscus from the years 1996 through 2003. Terms used in the search were clinical depression, depression, exercise, and physical activity.

EXERCISE AND CLINICAL DEPRESSION

META-ANALYTIC FINDINGS

While relatively few studies have been described here for illustrative purposes, there are now a large number of studies that support the efficacy of exercise in reducing symptoms of depression. Further, while the early research in this area suffered from a variety of methodological limitations (e.g., small samples, lack of random assignment, lack of control groups), current researchers have addressed these design issues, and presently there are multiple studies that have utilized experimental designs or employed a randomized clinical trial approach. Meta-analysis provides one means of summarizing this growing body of primary research and identifying variables that may moderate the effect of exercise on depression. Effect sizes (ESs) are calculated for each study and weighted to correct for positive bias that can result from small sample sizes. The statistical analyses of these ESs allow the researcher to investigate study and subject characteristics that may moderate the exercise-depression relationship as well as compare subsets of samples from the original studies and make comparisons (e.g., male vs. female, mildly vs. moderately depressed) that were not directly made within each of the individual primary research articles.

Lawlor and Hopker31 more recently conducted a meta-analysis that included only randomized controlled trials of clinically depressed patients. Fourteen studies were included in their meta-analysis. They reported an overall mean ES of −1.1 for exercise interventions compared with no-treatment control groups. Exercise was also as effective as cognitive therapy in alleviating symptoms of depression, with a nonsignificant ES of −0.3 emerging.

Analyses of subsamples within these meta-analyses indicate that exercise is effective for both men and women of all ages as well as those who are initially more severely depressed. Further, comparison of exercise program characteristics across the studies yielded nonsignificant ESs, indicating that exercise need not be lengthy or intense and that fitness gains are not necessary for patients to experience positive benefits. Therefore, in light of this additional meta-analytic support, researchers have begun to recommend that depressed individuals should adopt physically active lifestyles to help manage their symptoms.30, 32, 33 Table 1 provides basic characteristics of the studies utilizing clinical populations that were included in the 3 meta-analyses discussed above.28, 30, 31 Readers are referred to each of the meta-analyses for additional information regarding individual primary research articles. Further, a review by Dunn and colleagues34 includes a summary of study and participant characteristics for quasiexperimental and experimental designs.

Table 1.

The data from the 3 meta-analyses discussed previously28, 30, 31 resulted in overall ESs of −0.72, −0.94, and −1.1. Converting these ESs to a binomial effect size display allows one to examine the practical clinical significance of these effect sizes.35 These values reflect an increase in success rate due to treatment (i.e., exercise) of 67%, 71%, and 74%, respectively, and such promising treatment outcomes are notable. In medical settings, clinical guidelines suggest that a 50% reduction in symptoms during the treatment phase is considered a treatment response. Researchers have argued that this criterion is more clinically relevant than statistically significant results, which can occur even if the participants have not experienced a 50% reduction in the symptoms of their depression.34 Therefore, even when using this more clinically relevant guideline, the meta-analytic data provide support for the efficacy of exercise in reducing symptoms of depression. While this discussion is not meant to argue against the use of antidepressant medication or psychological therapies, there is strong evidence to advocate the use of exercise as a potentially powerful adjunct to existing treatments.

PROPOSED MECHANISMS FOR THE EXERCISE-DEPRESSION RELATIONSHIP

While the research is consistent and points to a relationship between exercise and depression, the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of exercise remain unclear. Several credible physiologic and psychological mechanisms have been described, such as the thermogenic hypothesis,36 the endorphin hypothesis,37, 38 the monoamine hypothesis,39-42 the distraction hypothesis,43 and the enhancement of self-efficacy.29, 43-46 However, there is little research evidence to either support or refute most of these theories.

Thermogenic Hypothesis

The thermogenic hypothesis suggests that a rise in core body temperature following exercise is responsible for the reduction in symptoms of depression. DeVries36 explains that increases in temperature of specific brain regions, such as the brain stem, can lead to an overall feeling of relaxation and reduction in muscular tension. While this idea of increased body temperature has been proposed as a mechanism for the relationship between exercise and depression, the research conducted on the thermogenic hypothesis has examined the effect of exercise only on feelings of anxiety rather than depression.36, 47, 48

Endorphin Hypothesis

The endorphin hypothesis predicts that exercise has a positive effect on depression due to an increased release of β-endorphins following exercise. Endorphins are related to a positive mood and an overall enhanced sense of well-being. This line of research has not been without criticism. The debate remains as to whether plasma endorphins reflect endorphin activity in the brain. Some37, 38 have argued that even if peripheral endorphin levels are not reflective of brain chemistry, they could still be associated with a change in mood or feelings of depression. Several studies have shown increases in plasma endorphins following acute and chronic exercise49-51; yet, it remains unclear if these elevations in plasma endorphins are directly linked to a reduction in depression. Lastly, the phenomenon of runner's high, often attributed to endorphin release, is not blocked by naloxone injection, an opiate antagonist.52, 53

Monoamine Hypothesis

The monoamine hypothesis appears to be the most promising of the proposed physiologic mechanisms. This hypothesis states that exercise leads to an increase in the availability of brain neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine) that are diminished with depression. These neurotransmitters increase in plasma and urine following exercise, but whether exercise leads to an increase in neurotransmitters in the brain remains unknown.40-42 Animal studies suggest that exercise increases serotonin and norepinephrine in various brain regions,39, 54-56 but, to date, this relationship has not been studied in humans.

Therefore, while several physiologic mechanisms remain plausible, methodological difficulties have prevented this line of research from advancing. Martinsen57 discusses how testing biochemical hypotheses is often difficult in humans due to the invasive procedures necessary to obtain samples (e.g., spinal taps for cerebrospinal fluid samples). Further, biochemical samples obtained from blood or other bodily fluids may not directly reflect the activity of these compounds in the brain.39 Hopefully, with the advent of new less invasive neuroimaging techniques, future researchers can examine whether exercise leads to the neurochemical changes in the brain predicted by these physiologic hypotheses.

Distraction Hypothesis

Several psychological mechanisms have also been proposed. As was the case with the physiologic mechanisms, many of these theories have not been tested extensively. The distraction hypothesis suggests that physical activity serves as a distraction from worries and depressing thoughts.43 In general, the use of distracting activities as a means of coping with depression has been shown to have a more positive influence on the management of depression and to result in a greater reduction in depression than the use of more self-focused or introspective activities such as journal keeping or identifying positive and negative adjectives that describe one's current mood.58, 59

Exercise has been compared with other distracting activities such as relaxation, assertiveness training, health education, and social contact.17, 18, 23, 60 Results have been inconclusive, with exercise being more effective than some activities and similar to others in its ability to aid in the reduction of depression. However, exercise is known to increase positive affect, which is diminished in depressed patients and is not augmented by distraction activities. The diminished capacity to experience positive affect is an essential distinguishing symptom in clinical depression.

Self-Efficacy Hypothesis

The enhancement of self-efficacy through exercise involvement may be another way in which exercise exerts its antidepressant effects. Self-efficacy refers to the belief that one possesses the necessary skills to complete a task as well as the confidence that the task can actually be completed with the desired outcome obtained. Bandura36 describes how depressed people often feel inefficacious to bring about positive desired outcomes in their lives and have low efficacy to cope with the symptoms of their depression. This can lead to negative self-evaluation, negative ruminations, and faulty styles of thinking. It has been suggested that exercise may provide an effective mode through which self-efficacy can be enhanced based on its ability to provide the individual with a meaningful mastery experience. Research examining the association between physical activity and self-efficacy in the general population has focused predominantly on the enhancement of physical self-efficacy and efficacy to regulate exercise behaviors. The relationship between exercise and self-efficacy in the clinically depressed has received far less attention. The findings of the few studies that have examined this relationship have been equivocal as to whether exercise leads to an enhancement of generalized feelings of efficacy.23, 61 However, 1 recent study62 has reported that involvement in an exercise program was associated with enhanced feelings of coping self-efficacy, which, in turn, were inversely related to feelings of depression.

More research is needed to determine which, if any, of the mechanisms described herein are important moderators of the exercise effect. It is highly likely that a combination of biological, psychological, and sociological factors influence the relationship between exercise and depression. This is consistent with current treatment for depression in which the effects of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy on depression are additive and address biological, psychological, and sociological aspects of the patient. There may also be individual variation in the mechanisms or combination of mechanisms mediating this relationship.32 Additionally, different mechanisms may be important at specific times in the natural course of depression. Until more is known about the possible mechanisms, this relationship may be best studied utilizing a biopsychosocial approach.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Physicians should counsel patients to begin slowly and choose an enjoyable mode of exercise. For many people, walking is often a cost-effective option, and the physician should ask patients to identify a safe place to walk and a place to walk indoors during inclement weather (e.g., a shopping mall). The primary care provider may want to encourage the patient to first work on the frequency of his or her exercise activities, that is, setting a goal of 3 exercise sessions per week, at a comfortable pace, for a manageable length of time (e.g., 10 minutes). Once the patient becomes confident that the exercise frequency is under his or her control, the duration of the exercise bout can gradually be increased.

Briefly instructing patients on the benefits of using self-monitoring techniques (exercise logs, pedometers) and setting small, achievable goals can also be significant points of discussion when patients are adopting exercise programs. In the general population, research has shown that addressing a number of key factors specific to the individual (e.g., exercise self-efficacy, social support for exercise, and perceived barriers to exercise), as well as continued brief supportive contact with the researcher or physician, can increase the rate of adherence to the exercise program by up to 25%.73-76 The use of self-monitoring and brief follow-up contact with the physician is aimed at increasing the patient's awareness of the immediate rewards of exercise, which is more effective in promoting adherence than focusing on distant outcomes. Therefore, primary care physicians are encouraged to regularly inquire (e.g., during office visits) about exercise involvement and reinforce any positive benefits the patient reports experiencing.

SUMMARY

The mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of exercise remain in debate; however, the efficacy of exercise in decreasing symptoms of depression has been well established. Data regarding the positive mood effects of exercise involvement, independent of fitness gains, suggest that the focus should be on frequency of exercise rather than duration or intensity until the behavior has been well established. The addition of self-monitoring techniques may increase awareness of the proximal benefits of exercise involvement, which is generally reinforcing to the patient.

Physician advice is likely to go a long way toward providing motivation and support for exercise. Follow-up contact may also be important during exercise adoption. While this follow-up may present a time challenge to the provider, less time-consuming interactions such as brief telephone contact and automated telephone contact have been shown to increase adherence to exercise programs.77-80 Finally, it is interesting to note that while depression may be an additional risk factor for exercise noncompliance, reported drop-out rates among depressed patients are not too different from those in the general population.13, 21-23, 26

Drug names: naloxone (Suboxone, Narcan, and others), sertraline (Zoloft).

Pretest and Objectives

Instructions and Posttest

Registration and Evaluation

Footnotes

This manuscript was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health General Clinical Research Center Grant #M01RR005333 to Boston University School of Medicine.

In the spirit of full disclosure and in compliance with all ACCME Essential Areas and Policies, the faculty for this CME activity were asked to complete a full disclosure statement. The information received is as follows: Drs. Craft and Perna have no significant commercial relationships to disclose relative to the presentation.

REFERENCES

National Institute of Mental Health. The numbers count: mental disorders in America. Available at: [http://www.nimh.gov. Accessed Sept 3, 2003. Google Scholar]

World Health Organization. Depression. Available at [http://www.who.org. Accessed Nov 15, 2003. Google Scholar]

Zerihun M. Depression drains workplace productivity. Available at: [http://www.depressionnet.org. Accessed Oct 31, 2001. Google Scholar]

Martinsen EW, Medhus A, Sandvik L. Effects of aerobic exercise on depression: a controlled study [abstract] Br Med J (Clin Res ED) 1985;291:109. [[PMC free article] [PubMed] Google Scholar]

Dimeo F, Baurer M, and Varahram I. et al. Benefits from aerobic exercise in patients with major depression: a pilot study. Br J Sports Med. 2001 35:114-117. [[PubMed] PMC free article] [Google Scholar]

Lawlor DA, Hopker SW. The effectiveness of exercise as an intervention in the management of depression: systematic review and meta-regression analysis of randomized controlled trials. BMJ. 2001;322:763-767. [[PMC free article] [PubMed] Google Scholar]

Craft LL. Exercise and clinical depression: examining two psychological mechanisms. Psychol Sport Exerc. In press. [Google Scholar]

Articles from Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

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The Benefits of Exercise for the Clinically Depressed

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Millions of Americans suffer from clinical depression each year. Most depressed patients first seek treatment from their primary care providers. Generally, depressed patients treated in primary care settings receive pharmacologic therapy alone. There ...

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This page elaborates on if and how exercise can cure depression.

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Not long ago, a friend told me about his symptoms of depression - trouble sleeping through the night, loss of appetite, forgetfulness, and occasional comments that he might be better off dead. It all sounded like a major depression that could have a good chance of responding to an antidepressant medication, but he was reluctant to take medicines that might "control his mind." Besides, he had read that getting fit at the gym or running a few laps was all he needed to beat the blues.

I am a big fan of the mental and physical benefits of exercise, but I wasn't convinced that exercise therapy would be enough to cure my friend's depression. In the last few years, clinical scientists have been focusing more on the mental benefits of physical exercise. Anyone who has run a 10-K or lifted weights knows first-hand the compelling and immediate sense of endorphin-induced euphoria. We feel uplifted and clear-headed, but is it just a transient state - an effective but temporary treatment for depression?

A few years ago, colleagues from Duke University compared the antidepressant effects of aerobic exercise training to the popular antidepressant medicine sertraline, as well as a placebo sugar pill. They randomized depressed patients to one of the interventions and found that after four months about 40 percent of the subjects were no longer depressed. Those who exercised or received the medicine had higher and comparable response rates, but they were only slightly better than the placebo group. Those who exercised at a moderate level - about 40 minutes three to five days each week - experienced the greatest antidepressant effect. So they interpreted that to mean that exercise was just as good as medicine. And in that particular study, the high placebo response meant that nonspecific influences like patient expectations and the attention from the study personnel during monitoring visits may have caused the therapeutic response.

Exercise not only increases blood flow to the brain, it releases endorphins, the body's very own natural antidepressant. It also releases other neurotransmitters, like serotonin, which lift mood. In fact, the antidepressant in the study, sertraline, is an SSRI or a selective serotinon reuptake inhibitor - it is thought to exert its effects on body chemistry by increasing the amount of brain serotonin, a chemical that is lowered during depressed mental states. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a chemical that promotes brain health and memory, is also reduced in depression, and exercise has been found to elevate levels of this neurotransmitter. Maybe a fitness program could boost my friend's levels in all these areas, and help his forgetfulness, too. He could only laugh at the idea of having 40 extra minutes three times a week to exercise. His wife was mad enough that he worked 14 hour days as it was.

Multiple systematic clinical trials of antidepressant medications have shown that they are significantly more effective than placebo in relieving symptoms in people with major depression. To determine whether or not somebody has a major depression and will respond to an antidepressant medicine, I often use the mnemonic I learned during my psychiatry residency training, which that reminds me of eight features of major depression: "SIG E CAPS." "SIG" is an abbreviation doctors use to stand for prescribe; "E" stands for energy; and "CAPS" stands for capsules. Each letter is an abbreviation for one of the symptoms: S-sleep decrease or increase; I-interest loss; G- guilt feelings; E-energy decline; C- concentration impairment; A-appetite change; P-psychomotor disturbance (agitation or slowed movements); and S- suicidal thinking. Patients with three or more of these symptoms generally respond well to antidepressants. My friend had at least five of these symptoms so I was confident he would respond to a trial of medication.

Use of antidepressants got a push back recently from a meta-analysis or a combined analysis of previous studies using another SSRI, Paxil, and an older antidepressant drug, imipramine, in a class known as tricyclics. The study suggested that these drugs may be no better than placebo, but that study had drawbacks: for example, it eliminated other antidepressant medicines and did not include sequential treatments. Many patients do not respond to the first medicine they try but respond very well to a medicine from another drug group.

Research and clinical practice support the idea that antidepressant medicines often work best when combined with non-pharmacological approaches like psychotherapy, support groups, or healthy lifestyle habits. So for my friend, he wouldn't necessarily have to choose one approach over the other. Since he already seemed predisposed toward exercise, I encouraged him to join a fitness center - his wife would probably come around if he cut back on work a few hours, which might also lower his stress levels and improve his mood. But I also urged him to give medicines a try. If he gave it a few weeks or more - antidepressants often take several weeks to have an effect and the first one may not work - there was an excellent chance that he'd have a good response. Before I could finish my suggestions, his cell phone rang. It was his wife reminding him that he was late for dinner. He had to run off. Perhaps that would be good for his mood, if he kept up a good pace.

Follow me on Twitter at drgarysmall.

See my new book, "The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: A Psychiatrist's Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases."

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Not long ago, a friend told me about his symptoms of depression - trouble sleeping through the night, loss of appetite, forgetfulness, and occasional comments that he might be better off dead. It all sounded like a major depression that could have a good chance of responding to an antidepressant medication, but he was reluctant to take medicines that might "control his mind."

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This page talks about the correlation between exercise and depression.

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Photo: Thinkstock

Exercise is as effective as drugs in some cases.

One in 10 adults in the United States struggles with depression, and antidepressant medications are a common way to treat the condition. However, pills aren't the only solution. Research shows that exercise is also an effective treatment. "For some people it works as well as antidepressants, although exercise alone isn't enough for someone with severe depression," says Dr. -Michael Craig Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

The exercise effect

Exercising starts a biological cascade of events that results in many health benefits, such as protecting against heart disease and diabetes, improving sleep, and lowering blood pressure. High-intensity exercise releases the body's feel-good chemicals called endorphins, resulting in the "runner's high" that joggers report. But for most of us, the real value is in low-intensity exercise sustained over time. That kind of activity spurs the release of proteins called neurotrophic or growth factors, which cause nerve cells to grow and make new connections. The improvement in brain function makes you feel better. "In people who are depressed, neuroscientists have noticed that the hippocampus in the brain-the region that helps regulate mood-is smaller. Exercise supports nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, improving nerve cell connections, which helps relieve depression," explains Dr. Miller.

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Exercise is an all-natural treatment to fight depression - Harvard Health

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Photo: Thinkstock One in 10 adults in the United States struggles with depression, and antidepressant medications are a common way to treat the condition. However, pills aren't the only solution. Research shows that exercise is also an effective treatment.

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This site talks about the science of running it out.

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Note from Amy 4/24/18: This article was written when I was a personal trainer and had my focus in different areas than I currently do. While much of this information is useful, there's an element of performance health in this piece that I no longer agree with. I've left it unedited so you can make the decisions for yourself, but if you have a history of disordered eating or over-exercising, you might want to sit this one out. xo Amy
I frequently tout the benefits of strength training on this blog. And for good reason.

Strength training:
*raises your metabolic rate *helps slow down the aging effects on the body *keeps your brain sharp *makes you a badass (ok, that's subjective)
Recently, a lot of authorities in fitness have come out against long slow cardio training: they say it's a waste of time and raises cortisol levels. In other words, they are pro-anaerobic cardio ( sprints or strength training circuits) and anti-aerobic ( longer, more moderate activities such as running, elliptical machines, and biking).

There is a lot to be said for their case. Long slow cardio can have a cortisol-boosting effect on the body.

Cortisol is not a friend of ours in today's society. The stress hormone tells your body to store fat because it thinks you're under attack or dying: it shifts your metabolism to your brain, more or less, so that you'll be sure to have enough fuel to make quick decisions in the face of danger... and I guess in Paleolithic times, this makes sense. But we're past that now, and we aren't going to evolve past that reaction in our lifetime.
What we're left with is a non-six pack and chronic stress, which can lead to anxiety and depression.
If you're killing it with the long runs, and not allowing your body enough time to recover, you force your body into a state of chronic stress.

No bueno, folks.

But not all steady-state cardio has this effect, and not everybody reacts in the same way to it.

Where I come from is a bit different than the hardcore, physique-focused trainers.
I use exercise to train my body, as well as to medicate it. Let me explain...
I run. I'm a runner.

Though many people would scoff at this because I don't run more than 4 miles at a time anymore ( unless I'm doing a 10k with my clients, which I do bi-annually), I do consider myself a runner. Why? Because I consider running my zen place.

When I run, I turn on my music and I concentrate on the thoughts I'm having, focused completely on them without any distractions ( damn you, Pinterest!).
It's safe to say that 80% of my epiphanies come to me while I'm running.
My first video post? I decided on that while I was running.

My empowerment retreat that I want to host? About 2 miles into an easy 3-miler, it came to me.

Running is the surefire way to find my inner peace without turning to medication.

For me, this is worth a lot. Even if it isn't the most efficient use of my workout time in a get-lean sense.

It's my head-clearing time. It's my get-focused time. It's my chill-out time.

My history with anxiety and depression is not just a history. I still struggle with it sometimes. It is a chemical imbalance and sometimes it's just worse than others.

But I know exactly what to do when I start feeling this way. That empowering voice in the back of my head screams out:

And I do. And I pull out of it. Even if it's temporary. I know that if I do it tomorrow too, I'll pull out of it again.
And to prove that it's not just me and that this can help you as well if you deal with anxiety, depression or even plain old STRESS, let's go over a bit of the science behind it.
One of my favorite, most enlightening books is Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John J. Ratey.

In it, Ratey goes over the many scientific benefits of aerobic exercise for those that deal with depression, anxiety, stress, and a host of other conditions.

Here are a few bonuses that come from aerobic exercise:
*it elevates brain-derived neurotrophic factor, slowing cognitive decline and strengthening your capacity for and rate of learning, and protects neurons against the corrosive effects of cortisol (exercise boosts BDNF at least as much as antidepressants if not more) *it promotes brain growth *it prevents stress by beating it to the punch: self-inflicted physical stress helps ready the body to cope with emotional or physical stress when it comes around unexpectedly *it balances neurotransmitters in the brain that promote focus *it interrupts the mental feedback loop of anxiety within the brain *it reduces muscle tension, which in turn, reduces anxiety *it regulates all the neurotransmitters targeted by antidepressants, thus waking up the brain and improving self-esteem
...and that isn't even all of them.
For all these reasons, I'll admit it: you may catch me on the elliptical from time to time.
All my fitness friends are calling blasphemy right now, but it's true. Sometimes I just get a magazine, prop myself on an elliptical and just go at a moderate pace while I read for however long I feel like it. So sue me.

...ok ok, I don't usually do those elliptical jaunts all by their lonesome. They're usually strategically done after hard strength sessions as a sort of elongated cool down. But their head-clearing effects are life-savers during stressful weeks.

Do you deal with anxiety, depression or stress? Maybe all you need is a run to start pulling out of it.

One interesting tidbit of information that I also read in Spark is that, when performed by stress-cases, high-intensity anaerobic workouts actually had a detrimental effect on the body and brain. When you're stressed beyond belief, the body will interpret that extra strain as additional pressure, causing a cortisol release. Excess cortisol negatively affects memory, focus, fat metabolism ( especially in the midsection) and can actually erode neurons!

So much of my training now is geared toward getting my clients to a state of minimal cortisol. Depending on their situation, aerobic exercise may be better for just calming the nerves and gaining that space for inner peace, or if they handle stress pretty well, I'll start them on sprints right away, knowing that they'll recover easily.

Remember when I said stop working against your personality? Well I'm going to repeat it here, too.
You need to do some research as to what works for you and what your body needs right now. It will change, and you have to learn how to change with it.
Here are some of my recommendations...

Super Stressed Out

I'm glad you're reading this post. I emphasize the results that anaerobic work gets you physically on this blog a lot. But chilling your brain out is just as important if you want to maintain those results.

Concentrate on sticking to your strength training 2-3 times per week, and add at least one day of either yoga or longer runs, walks, bike rides, or elliptical sessions.
Take the time to zone out and concentrate on you.
Thing is: you're pushing so hard in your daily life that you're stressing yourself out, right? You need a chunk of time to slow down, and reprogram your stress response. By relaxing, you can temper that extra cortisol that comes from high-stress lifestyles, and achieve results more easily than you would just going-going-going all the time.

By actively putting your body through a moderate amount of stress through aerobic activity, you are teaching your body that it can handle more, and therefore you will gain resilience in the face of future stress.

If you are already extremely active, make sure you are taking enough rest days. You're body needs that time to recover, otherwise your constant state of cortisol is heightened, causing all that nonsense I talked about above.

Having a ridiculously hard time at work? Maybe now's not the time to start training for a marathon even though you've never run more than 3 miles at a time. Start slowly, and work your way up. Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon ( yes, I am fully aware of the irony in this). You'll get there. Trust it. Don't rush it.

Ready to Change, Low-Stress and Have The Time To Commit

YES! Go kill it!

Aim for a sturdy routine of 2-3 strength sessions per week, working in cardio circuits until you're short of breath. Combine this with one day of sprint intervals and one day of longer, slower, more mind-clearing cardio.
Your body won't know what's coming, which is ideal for gaining strength, power and endurance!
Just make sure that you are taking enough time to recover. If your body starts feeling consistently fatigued, sore, and weak, take a couple extra days off or replace one of your strength days with an aerobic, steady state workout.

Feeling Down and Unmotivated

I feel you. Been there, done that. Let's turn this mood around, shall we?

There is something magical about working out outside. Connecting with nature, even in big cities ( go to a park!), is a great way to start putting focus outside of yourself.

Depression is an obsession with the past and projection of those events onto your future. If you can get out of that frame of mind, you will do wonders for your outlook. This is why getting outside, shifting your focus to everything that is beautiful around you, is so helpful.
Give your brain a break from the downward spiral of the blues.
Commit to going outside for even 20 minutes, 4x/week. Do some kind of activity that feels moderate to you, and just take in the sights. Look up at the sky. Take in the birds. Feel the sun on your face.

The activity will release feel-good hormones while literally giving you a breath of fresh air. It helps to have these hormones flowing through you when you're actively trying to shift your focus to gratitude and positivity: it makes it a lot easier.
When you just want to curl up and sleep through the day, the most important thing you can do is get out and MOVE.
Break the cycle. It's the only way you'll change.

Feeling Anxious or Experiencing Lack of Focus

Ok, this one can go either way. This may take a bit of guess and check.

Try both short-burst intense workouts (such as sprints, HIIT, or cardio circuits) and long, slow cardio or moderate weight lifting.
Every person responds differently depending on their level of stress and preferred method of physical activity.
Some people focus better after working themselves to fatigue in an intense strength workout: pushing themselves to the limit brings them a state of clarity.

Others focus better after thinking it through on a longer run or walk, like I do.

No way is wrong or right. They're just different.

Both of these workouts provide an amount of stress on your body that promote focus and action (instead of procrastination). Depending on your body's current ability to handle stress, one of these methods will most likely do wonders for you.

Experiment and let me know below which way works best for you. Just curious...

Bored With Your Workouts

So if this one isn't obvious already, here's what I have to say about this circumstance:
DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU'RE DOING NOW.
That means, if you're doing more steady state workouts ( where your heart rate doesn't really spike up and down), push yourself to your limit next time around. Dabble in fast-paced full-body circuits, or try a bootcamp class somewhere.

And if you're doing only HIIT or CrossFit-type workouts, try mixing it up by trying a steady-state aerobic workout such as walking, swimming, biking or jogging.

Bottom line is this: your body responds best to switching it up because it is then forced to adapt to the new stresses put upon it. Your brain, however, likes some semblance of routine, but that could mean routine with working it out to the max, or calming it down with an easy run. Every body is different. Honor yours by trying different things and finding what works for you.

*****

If you're like me, and you use exercise as a sort of meditation or even medication, it's not necessary that you focus each session on being the most efficient, lean-mass-building, body-fat-blasting 45 minutes of your day. Even if you don't yet, but you find that chronic stress is dominating your day-to-day, give it a shot. Studies show it's good for you. ;)

If you're worried about turning to steady-state cardio because of the cortisol effect and the effect it might have on your physique, the answer lies in rest and recovery. The reason why some marathoners have a softer look to their midsections (which isn't bad, btw) is because they don't give their bodies enough rest, raising the levels of cortisol in the body to a constant high.

Vary your workouts. Take rest days.

And when it all comes down to it, have fun! That's what exercise should be about. Sure, you get awesome results, but if you're not enjoying it, I bet it will take longer to start seeing them.

Give yourself over to it. ALLOW it to be fun.

So what works best for you? When it comes to working out, do you prefer high-intensity strength sessions, long runs, or both? I'd love to hear what you're all doing, and if I can help you in any way!

photo 1 adapted by me from Fotolia, photo 2 (adapted by me) by Ed Yourdon, photo 3 (adapted by me) by mikebaird, photo 4 (adapted by me) by Steve-h

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Run It Out: The Science of Exercise And Stress/Depression/Anxiety

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Note from Amy 4/24/18: This article was written when I was a personal trainer and had my focus in different areas than I currently do. While much of this information is useful, there's an element of performance health in this piece that I no longer agree with.

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This website talks how exercise can be the best drug for depression.

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ADVERTISEMENT

Psychologist Jasper Smits is working on an unorthodox treatment for anxiety and mood disorders. The treatment is free and has no side effects. What is it? Exercise.

Research has shown again and again that patients who follow aerobic-exercise regimens see improvement in their depression -- improvements comparable to that of those treated with medication. Exercise not only relieves depressive symptoms but also appears to prevent them from recurring.

According to Times Magazine:

"Molecular biologists and neurologists have begun to show that exercise may alter brain chemistry in much the same way that antidepressant drugs do -- regulating the key neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine."

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Is Exercise the Best Drug for Depression?

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ADVERTISEMENT Psychologist Jasper Smits is working on an unorthodox treatment for anxiety and mood disorders. The treatment is free and has no side effects. What is it? Exercise. Research has shown again and again that patients who follow aerobic-exercise regimens see improvement in their depression -- improvements comparable to that of those treated with medication.

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This website talks about ways to alleviate depression.

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Regular exercise is a wonderful tool for overcoming depression and major depressive disorder. Learn about seven of the best exercises to fight depression.

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This page talks about more benefits of cardio activity.

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Cardio exercise tops the recommendations for fitness, health, and burning calories. But you may still be confused about how much you need and all of the benefits of cardiovascular exercise.

It's tough keeping all these rules straight but, the good news is that you don't have to. Sometimes it's best to forget the rules and get back to basics-cardio isn't just for weight loss.

Bodies Are Made to Move

If you have a sedentary job, think about how your body feels at the end of the day. Do you have tight muscles, an aching back, or feel exhausted even though you haven't done anything physical? Maybe your shoulders burn from tension and your head hurts from staring at a computer screen for too long.

Now, think about how your body feels after a workout. If you do it right, your muscles are warm and flexible, the blood is pumping through your body, providing oxygen and energy. You feel energized, confident, proud of yourself and ready to take on the world. It's much different, isn't it? Human bodies are made to move-not sit around all day.

All the Benefits of Cardio Exercise

You may think of cardio as a chore-huffing, puffing, and sweating through workouts just to change how your body works. Yes, cardio can help change your body, but it has many other benefits. Knowing those may make you look at cardio exercise with different eyes.

Just some benefits include:

Notice that weight loss, while a big focus for many people, is only one benefit of cardio. Despite that, weight loss is often a person's only goal, and not just for health, but to look good.

While there's nothing wrong with wanting to look good, having that as your only goal can make exercise harder. Weight takes time. If you don't see results, you may lose the motivation to exercise. Open your mind to other reasons to exercise-you might just find new ways to make exercising easier.

Cardio for Better Quality of Life

It's natural to want to look good, but you may get so hung up on how you look that you forget how you actually feel. If you look at the benefits listed above, all of them translate into feeling good now and in the future. Despite that, you may be more entranced with getting six-pack abs than feeling good, both physically and mentally.

Many people forget that being active can make their lives better. Moving around increases blood flow to your muscles, strengthens the heart and lungs, and teaches the heart to work more efficiently.

Not only that, when you exercise, you become a role model for all the people in your life. The more they see you exercise, the more motivated they might be to do the same.

If all this is true, why isn't that enough to get you moving? Why do so many people struggle with being active? Part of it might be how you think about yourself, your body, and exercise.

Changing the Way You Think

You can get emotionally attached to certain ideas, especially when it comes to exercise. While some people love it, many see it as an obligation, a chore, or even torture. It may be hard to believe that exercise can actually feel good.

It can feel good to move your body. It can feel good to be strong and confident and know you can make it through a workout. That confidence translates into other areas of your life. If you can exercise, what else can you tackle?

If you're only focused on weight loss, you're missing out on all those good things. You can change that in these ways:

Keep It simple. If you're confused about what to do, start with the basics-you need at least 20 minutes for the body to get going, so start there. Get out your calendar, find 20 minutes of time on three different days and do something-walking, running, going to the gym, vigorous yard work-whatever you want. Make it a habit first and work on your time and intensity later.

Be patient. Part of allowing yourself time to make exercise a habit is being patient. You can't start where you want to be, which may be more than you can handle. You have to start where you are right now. That means easing into it and allowing both your body and mind to respond to what you're doing. The weight loss will eventually come, but not right away.

Be more mindful. Spend some time focusing on how your body feels while exercising. While music is a great motivator, set a goal to do one workout a week with no distractions. Leave your heart rate monitor, magazines, and music at home. Forget about calories, intensity, and the rest of it and focus on how your body feels. Try different activities. Go slower or faster and see how your body responds. Take some time to learn about your body and you'll be able to create workouts based on your own rules instead of someone else's.

Find something to enjoy. If exercise seems like a chore, skip your normal workout and try something else. Take a walk outside and look around. Notice the scenery. Take a new route. Breathe in the air. Breathe deeply. Sometimes just being outside is a reminder of how wonderful it is to have a healthy, functioning body.

Mix it up. The nice thing about cardio exercise is that you can choose any activity that raises your heart rate. You don't have to do the same workout every session, nor every week. If you've been doing the same workouts try something new. Changing up your cardio is easy, so do it often and you'll discover more activities you enjoy. You can even just change up the workout you currently do. For example, if you gravitate towards treadmill workouts, try mixing it up with interval training.

Appreciate your body. It's easy to focus on the things you don't like about yourself but, just for a bit, think about how your body is right now. If it's in good working order, or at least close to it, think about how that feels. You can stand, walk, and move. Just taking a few moments during your workouts to imagine what it would be like if you couldn't do what you wanted can help remind you how amazing your body is-no matter how it looks.

It takes time to change how you think about things. Part of making exercise a part of your life might involve opening your mind to different possibilities. Just for a moment, imagine what it would be like to exercise because it feels good-not just because it helps you look good.

Imagine how much more motivating it would be to exercise because you want to, not just because you have to. It really is possible to make exercise an enjoyable part of your life. Being more present in what you're doing can help.

Thanks for your feedback!

What are your concerns?

Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand

View Article Sources

2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/paguidelines/pdf/paguide.pdf.

Donnelly JE, Blair SN, Jakicic JM, Manore MM, Rankin JW, Smith BK. Appropriate Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention of Weight Regain for Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2009;41(2):459-471. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3181949333.

Garber CE, Blissmer B, Deschenes MR, et al. Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory, Musculoskeletal, and Neuromotor Fitness in Apparently Healthy Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011;43(7):1334-1359. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e318213fefb.

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Cardio exercise tops the recommendations for fitness, health, and burning calories. But you may still be confused about how much you need and all of the benefits of cardiovascular exercise. It's tough keeping all these rules straight but, the good news is that you don't have to.

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This page also talks about the benefits of cardio workouts.

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That's because cardio exercises burn calories.

And the basis of weight loss is slashing your calorie surplus.

All sorts of exercises burn calories and contribute to your weight loss effort.

However, no other form of exercise can burn as many calories as cardio. In short, according to studies, cardio is one of the best exercises for weight loss.

In fact, a study done by Duke University reported that cardio burns as much as 67 percent more calories than resistance training ( 1).

So if you're looking to lose a few pounds, add cardio to your weight loss regimen. It will help you lose weight fast.

But losing weight is just one of the many benefits of cardio exercises. There are many other benefits associated with doing cardio regularly.

Here are some of the benefits of cardio:

In this post, we will cover each of these cardio benefits in more details.

Before we do, let's briefly review what cardio is and why it's important to do cardio.

What Is Cardio?

The word cardio is short for cardiovascular fitness, a term used to reference circulatory system, which consists of the heart and blood vessels in your body ( 2).

Cardio is also known as aerobic exercise. It is a form of exercise that requires pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles and other tissues and organs in the body ( 3).

As a result, doing cardio regularly will improve how well and how efficient your heart and lungs work.

Usually, that results in having a lower resting heart rate over time.

As you can see the benefits of cardiovascular training are embedded in its name.

Cardio Exercises

In the simplest term, cardio is any exercise that stimulates your heart rate to beat at a higher rate than normal and your breathing rate to increase in a way that can be sustained for the length of the exercise session.

This can be any form of exercises, including walking, HIIT, running, swimming, jogging, and Zumba, to name a few.

Regardless of the form, doing cardio will burn off calories.

And since weight loss does depend on calories deficiencies, incorporating cardio into your regimen is a step in the right direction.

But if you want to take a step further, not all cardio burns calories the same.

Some cardio exercises are better than others for weight loss and fat loss. So let's dive in.

Different Types of Cardio

There are two types of cardio: aerobic and anaerobic.

Aerobic means needing or using oxygen ( 4).

You can think of aerobic exercises like running, biking or group classes like Zumba at your local gym class. Aerobic is the heart pumping exercise that makes your lung takes in more oxygen to keep you moving.

In contrast, anaerobic exercise is without "oxygen", an exercise activity type that involves you moving quickly and getting out of breath quickly, like sprinting and weightlifting.

Anaerobic means without oxygen ( 5).

Anaerobic is just the opposite of aerobic. You can think of exercises like weightlifting and sprint. They are both called an anaerobic exercise because they require additional oxygen to perform.

In short, aerobic exercise is defined as any activity that stimulates your heart rate and breathing but not so much that you can't sustain the activity for more than a few minutes.

Aerobic in contrast means "with oxygen," and anaerobic means "without oxygen."

It's the type of exercise where you get out of breath in just a few moments, like when you HIIT, weightlifting for improving strength, when you sprint, or when you climb a long flight of stairs.

Why Do Cardio?

The main purpose of doing cardio exercise is to improve your heart health and efficiency of the rest of the "circulatory system". As a result, your heart and lungs will get healthier, stronger and more able to work more efficiently.

When you are told to increase cardio, it simply means to perform exercises that will increase your heart rate to your "target heart rate zone" and improve the circulatory system.

What Is Your Target Heart Rate Zone?

Your target heart rate zone is a way to monitor your exercise intensity or effort to ensure that you are exercising safely and effectively.

The target "heart rate zone" is between 50-85% of your maximum predicted heart rate.

The main benefit to knowing your target heart zone is to help you exercise at the right pace or intensity and prevent you from over or under exercise, says Gerald Fletcher, M.D., a Cardiologist and Professor in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, FL ( 6).

Before you can calculate your target heart rate zone, you first need to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate.

Your maximum heart rate is determined by age.

Maximum heat rate equation:

220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate.

For example, a 45-year-old person would have the following calculation for Max Heart Rate:

220 - 45 years = 175 beats per minute or bpm.

To calculate their target heart rate zone (65-85%):

Max heart rate x target % = Target Heart Rate

This person's target heart rate zone is 107 bpm to 140 bpm.

Why Is This Important?

According to the American Heart Association, the appropriate heart rate zone is between 50 and 85% of your hypothetical maximum heart rate ( 6).

Age and maximum heart rate breakdowns are as follows:

Keep in mind that the numbers above indicate the standards. Genetic variability, medication, and other health conditions also affect your maximum heart rate (MHR).

For instance, maximum heart rate could be affected and lowered by certain blood pressure medication.

Also, MHR percentage training method is not absolute, thus should be used as a good target.

Take this exercise for example.

How hard is your body really working, running on a treadmill at 50% intensity?

The key to knowing your actual exertion level is to know and monitor your heart rate in your everyday life.

Keep in mind that the numbers above indicate the standards and genetic variability, medication and other health conditions may alter your maximum heart rate (MHR).

For instance, maximum heart rate could be affected and lowered by certain blood pressure medication.

Also, MHR percentage training method is not absolute, thus should be used as a good exertion proxy.

Take this exercise for an example.

How hard is your body really working, running on a treadmill at 50% intensity?

The key to knowing your actual exertion level is to know and monitor your heart rate in your everyday life.

It's also worth noting that for moderate intensity lower body exercises, you'd have more accurate reading on the estimated energy expenditure using polor monitors than lab-based calorimetry.

How to Get Started with Cardio

If you are new to fitness, cardio is a great place to start.

It's the most basic form exercise that anyone can do to improve his/her fitness level.

It's also a bonus that you don't need a gym or expensive exercise equipment to start doing cardio.

As we mentioned above, cardio is any form of exercise that gets your heart rate and breathing rate higher than your normal range.

This can mean taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking to the store instead of driving, and going for a leisurely jog around the neighborhood.

All of these exercises are considered good forms of cardio.

A simple prescription for beginning cardio training is to start with light to moderate exercise.

For sedentary people, this may be a brisk walk or light jog pace.

Always make sure to invest in some good comfortable shoes, for proper support, and a heart rate monitor to make sure you're you're staying in your heart rate zone.

Start slowly and on the low end of the intensity scale and give yourself time to adjust and improve your fitness.

Use the target heart rate zone chart below to determine the appropriate intensity for your fitness level.

This will allow your body to adjust to cardio training while minimizing the risk of soreness and injuries.

ACSM Cardio Recommendations

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the world's leading organization for sports medicine and exercise science, promoting healthier lifestyle choices for people worldwide ( 7).

ACSM cardiovascular fitness guideline recommends that a healthy adult should aim at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

Exercise recommendations can be met also through 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (five days per week) or 20-60 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise (three days per week).

One continuous session and multiple shorter sessions (of at least 10 minutes) are both acceptable to accumulate the desired amount of daily exercise.

Gradual progression of exercise time, frequency and intensity are recommended for best adherence and least injury risk.

People unable to meet these minimums can still benefit from some activity.

Takeaway: Healthy individuals should do a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercise a week. This can be done in 5 sessions of 30-minute cardio.

This is additional to your normal daily activities.

Although it takes commitment, especially in the first 21 days until you develop a habit to make cardio part of your daily routine, it can offer invaluable health benefits you treasure for a lifetime.

The National Academy of Sports Medicine recommends that you start with 2-3 sessions a week and keep your intensity high enough to make you sweat and get your heart rate up, but light enough you can still carry on a light conversation ( 8).

This implies to both men and women. Cardio workouts for women and cardio workouts for men follow the exact same rule.

Each week you can increase speed or duration, but do not increase it by more than 5-10% each week.

As your fitness level increases gradually, increase the number of sessions per week and the intensity or length of the sessions until you are performing 3-5 sessions of 60 minutes a week at a moderate to high intensity.

A high-intensity cardiorespiratory workout would be one in which you are working hard enough that you can only answer short yes or no type of questions. Give your body plenty of time to improve and adapt, and eventually, you will have a high level of fitness.

Without further adieu, let's get started in learning about these cardiovascular benefits!

11 Benefits of Cardio Exercises

1. Lose Weight

To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in.

Cardio is very effective at burning calories and fat. According to a recent study that compared varying amount of cardio and its effect on weight loss in obese and overweight individuals ( 9).

Those who burned 600 calories for 5 days a week doing cardio were successful at losing 5.7% of their body weight. The group who burned 400 calories for 5 days a week lost slightly less, 4.3% of their weight.

Those who did not exercise in contrast gained 0.5% of weight during the same period.

Furthermore, this is atypical result seeing in studies on a link between cardio and weight loss. Many other studies have reported cardio can help you burn fat and lose weight ( 10, 11).

If you are trying to lose weight, adding cardio to your weight loss program will likely to help you lose and manage a healthy weight and improve your metabolic health.

2. Lose Belly Fat

Weight loss is not the only benefit of cardio. If you have stubborn fat to lose, cardio should be your choice of exercise.

In fact, cardio is one of the most effective exercises to get rid of belly fat.

Though it's still unclear whether, at what intensity, moderate or high leads to the greatest fat loss, cardio's effectiveness in getting rid of your excess fat is well documented ( 12, 13, 14).

And studies suggest more exercise the better.

In one study, postmenopausal women lost more fat from all areas when they did cardio exercise for 300 minutes per week versus 150 minutes per week ( 15).

3. Promotes Brain Health

Harvard Health Publications reported regular cardiovascular exercises can improve your brain health.

In one study, researchers found that sweaty, heart-pumping aerobic exercise appears to increase the size of the hippocampus, the brain area relating to verbal memory and learning ( 16).

They did not see the same effectiveness from resistance training.

Another study in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience made similar discoveries ( 17).

They found that cardio whether short or long-term can boost one's memory and overall brain health in addition to those otherwise sedentary adults' physical fitness.

4. Improves Heart Health

This should come as no surprise as inactivity is one of the major risk factors for heart disease.

Luckily, cardio is the right kind of exercise to reverse that.

According to the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission, cardio exercise helps improve heart health and can even reverse some heart disease risk factors ( 18).

Like all muscles in the body, the heart becomes stronger as a result of regular cardio exercise, so it can pump more blood through the body with every beat and continue working at maximum level, if needed, with less stress.

People who do cardio regularly tend to have a lower resting heart rate since less effort is needed to pump blood to throughout the body.

Doing cardio exercise regularly will improve your heart health and lightens the strains on your heart.

5. Eases Depression and Uplifts Your Mood

Cardio exercise has been shown effective at improving one's mood and alleviating depression, anxiety, and stress.

It does that by initiating changes in a brain part that manages stress and anxiety. As you exercise, the brain becomes more sensitive to serotonin and norepinephrine, hormones that send relief to feelings of depression.

One published study on 156 depressed participants saw this positive correlation between depression and exercise ( 19).

To study the effectiveness of exercise as a depression reliever, they tested cardio as a treatment against medication, namely antidepressants. The participants were divided into three groups.

One followed a cardio program with no medication. Second took antidepressants, but didn't exercise. And the third group followed cardio and took antidepressants.

The test results exhibited that cardio worked just as well as a medication to relieve depression symptoms. In fact, after 16 weeks, up to 70% of people in all 3 groups were no longer diagnosed with major depression.

The research suggests that cardio offers an alternative to a medicated approach to relieving depression.

6. Boosts Your Energy

There's no secret that more physically active people tend to have more stamina and get tired less frequently ( 20, 21).

Cardio can do a lot to bring out that benefit in both healthy and unhealthy individuals including those suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS and other serious illness ( 22) .

One cardio study showed those with persistent fatigue experienced less feelings of being tired at the end of their 6-week trial ( 23).

In the end, regardless of your current health and physical state, cardio is a valid solution for energy and stamina boost.

7. Decreases Your Risk of Chronic Disease

Physical inactivity is one of the primary causes of chronic illness and can lead to a belly fat gain, a well-documented threat to heart disease, premature death, and type 2 diabetes ( 24).

Not only physical activity can help lower your risk of chronic diseases, cardio, in particular, has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, reduce body composition, decrease blood pressure ( 25).

Inevitably, cardio is needed to lose the belly fat to reduce all the other serious illness associated with it.

8. Improves Sleep Quality and Relaxation

Exercise also benefits your sleep.

The energy that gets depleted during exercise actually stimulates the health restoration process during sleep, giving you a good night of sleep with a more energized morning ( 26).

In fact, one study found that those who perform 150 minutes of cardio per week can see over 65% of improvement in their sleep quality from the cardio activity ( 27).

Another research saw an increase in the sleep duration in people with insomnia when they incorporated physical activity into their daily life ( 28).

What's more, the benefits extend to the elderly, who often experience sleep disorders ( 29).

Furthermore, it seems that you can be flexible with your exercise selections. Whether it's cardio exercise alone or cardio exercise combined with resistance training, can help improve your sleep quality ( 30).

9. Manages Diabetes

In addition to following a healthy diabetic meal plan and maintaining your blood glucose level through medications, physical activity such as cardio can play an important role in managing diabetes.

Exercise indeed will actually make it easier for you to control your blood sugar (glucose) level. This is particularly important to those with type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes points to a condition where there is too much glucose in their blood, either because their body doesn't produce enough insulin to process it or their body doesn't use insulin properly.

Studies have shown that exercise is, in fact, helpful in reducing the glucose in their blood since muscles can use glucose without insulin when you're exercising ( 31).

In other words, it doesn't matter if you're insulin resistant or if you don't have enough insulin. When you exercise, your muscles get the glucose they need, and in turn, your blood glucose level goes down.

By performing cardio exercises regularly, you will increase your muscles' ability to utilize glucose. Amongst all, research shows cardio exercises are particularly beneficial for type 2 diabetes.

10. Boosts Your Sex Life

Being physically active on a regular basis can boost your confidence.

Not only that, several studies show exercise can effectively increase one's sex drive ( 32, 33, 34).

Exercise such as cardio can also strengthen the cardiovascular system and improve your stamina which is crucial for a good sex session for men and women.

Additionally, exercise increases blood circulation, builds muscle tones, and enhances flexibility, all of which add to an improved quality of sex.

Inevitably, it's said to enhance one's sex performance and sexual pleasure, which naturally leads to an increased frequency of sexual activity.

While this benefit applies to both genders, one study on women in their 40s shows how increased exercise led to more orgasms ( 35).

In a men oriented study, it's also well documented that erectile dysfunction became less frequent with a regular routine of a short walk ( 36).

Takeaway: Regularly engaged in physical activity such as cardio can help drive sexual desire, function, and performance for both men and women.

Exercise is also linked to a reduced risk of men's erectile dysfunction.

11. Improves Skin health

Exercise is truly a wonderful thing for one's health, and it goes beyond sleep and sexual drive.

It also helps clear your complexion and improves the health of your skin.

That's because exercise can increase blood flow which will help keep your skin healthy and vibrant, says dermatologist Ellen Marmur, MD ( 37).

But if you have acne, rosacea, or psoriasis, it's important to take steps to protect your skin during your exercise session.

Though it's not necessary to stop physical activities for your skin issues. In fact, it's encouraged for its benefits to your skin.

There you have it!

11 amazing health benefits of cardio.

Cardio is proven effective and important for optimal health.

The best part is cardio exercises are free and can be done anywhere. It doesn't even require any exercise equipment to perform. By adding cardio to your daily life, you can begin to experience many of these incredible health benefits.

It's recommended that you perform 30-60 minutes of low to moderate intensity exercise per day for 5 days or 20-30 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise 3 times per week. Generally speaking 150 mins of any cardio a week is enough to reap its health benefits and provides you with noticeable results.

My favorite ways to get my cardio is to perform several bodyweight exercises at home. I usually do 2-3 sets of jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and jump rope.

Each set usually lasts about 20-30 seconds.

What's your favorite cardio exercise? Leave a comment below to let me know.

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11 Surprising Health Benefits of Cardio Exercises

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That's because cardio exercises burn calories. And the basis of weight loss is slashing your calorie surplus. All sorts of exercises burn calories and contribute to your weight loss effort. However, no other form of exercise can burn as many calories as cardio.

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This website talks about the 5 ways the=at you can benefit from cardiovascular training.

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Cardio. For some it's a dreaded word and for others it's a passion they can't get enough of. Either way you look at it though, cardiovascular exercise is one of the key components that should never be left out of a fitness plan.

Cardio, short for cardiovascular exercise, is any movement that gets your heart rate up and increases blood circulation throughout the body. There are various forms and methods of performing cardio exercise - all which will have specific benefits and guidelines.

Most individuals performing cardio are using it as a way to burn off excess calories and since you are moving the body, it is going to increase the need for energy. Some forms are slightly better when strictly speaking of fat loss but all cardio, regardless of form will burn off calories. Since fat loss does depend on calories burned versus calories consumed it is a step in the right direction.

The reason to do cardio does not end with fat loss though; there are a wide variety of health benefits you receive from a regular cardio program.

Benefits

Improved Heart Health

The first one is an improved condition of your heart. Your heart is a muscle just like any other and in order for it to become strong it must be worked. If you fail to work it, it will weaken over time and this can cause a variety of negative health effects.

By getting the heart pumping at a faster rate on a regular basis you will keep it in shape and healthy. Too many people are getting winded just performing simple exercises such as walking up the stairs and the primary reason for this is because they are neglecting to work their heart muscle.

Increased Metabolism

Another reason to perform cardio is for its effects on the metabolism. Along with speeding up your heart rate, cardiovascular exercise also increases the rate of various other processes in the body, also known as your metabolism.

Generally speaking, the more intense the cardio session, the more noticeable increase you will see with regards to your metabolic rate. Intense interval sprints (also known as HIIT) increase the metabolism; the highest with a process called EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption). An increased metabolism means an easier time maintaining your weight (or losing weight as the case may be).

Improved Hormonal Profile

Performing cardiovascular exercise also changes the hormonal profile in your body considerably. It releases 'feel good' hormones that will help ease symptoms of depression and fatigue as well as releasing hormones that decrease the appetite.

Individuals who partake in regular cardio exercise often have a much more positive outlook on life simply because they are getting the stress-relief benefits from these hormones.

Improved Recovery Ability

Certain types of cardio exercise, usually lower, more moderately paced forms, can decrease your recovery time too. If you have just performed a hard session in the gym, hopping on the treadmill for a walk or light jog will help to remove some of the by-products that were created during the lifting session.

This will help to reduce your DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) and help bring more oxygen rich blood to the muscle tissue improving in the repair and rebuilding process. To you, this translates to your being able to get back into the gym quicker and work the muscles again.

Building muscle mass is a combination of an overloading stimulus and sufficient rest to allow the muscle to heal itself. If you skew this balance either direction, either working out too much or providing too much rest in between, you aren't going to get optimal results.

The more frequently you are able to work a muscle though (assuming full recovery has been achieved) the faster you will add additional new muscle. Cardio helps you do this. Just don't take this too far as excess cardio or cardio done at such a high intensity that it places additional strain on the muscles is going to actually hinder recovery rather than aid it.

Management Of Diabetes

Lastly, for those who have diabetes, cardiovascular exercise helps them manage this condition. By performing the exercise you will increase your muscle's ability to utilize glucose. Those who exercise regularly tend to have better control of their blood sugars and do not see as many blood sugar swings as those who don't. For diabetes this is increasingly important as they are extremely sensitive to changes in blood sugar levels.

Key Components

Those are just a few of the benefits that you will see with regular cardiovascular exercise.

If you are just getting started, first focus on simply finding an activity that gets you moving and gets your heart rate up. Those are the two key components to what cardio is. Any form of exercise will do, whether it is going for a walk, a bike ride or performing in an organized sport.

The important thing is to keep your body moving. Weight lifting, unless done in a circuit style fashion, would not be considered aerobic cardio exercise since you are not moving continuously. It would be anaerobic and would use a different energy system than that of cardio (the ATP-CP system).

As you build up your fitness level, then you can concentrate on performing more advanced forms of cardio such as interval training, tempo training, HIIT sprints and so forth. First get started on building a solid cardio base though and then work from there.

Cardio is one thing you do not want to overdo in the beginning because spending hour upon hour on a machine at a moderate pace is really not going to give you any further benefits than someone doing a more moderate volume.

Once you are able to do 30-45 minutes 3-5 times a week then step it up a notch and look at those advanced principles. It's usually better to increase the intensity of your cardio, rather than the volume (unless you happen to be training for a long distance even such as a marathon for example).

Conclusion

So now that you know the basics of what cardio is, the benefits of including cardio and how to go about starting it (or progressing from where you currently are). Put this knowledge to good use in your workout program.

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5 Great Benefits Of Cardiovascular Exercise!

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Cardio. For some it's a dreaded word and for others it's a passion they can't get enough of. Either way you look at it though, cardiovascular exercise is one of the key components that should never be left out of a fitness plan.

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This website talks about how just cardio affects the brain.

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A mounting body of scientific evidence points to the suggestion that the more you exercise as a young adult, the better your brain will work when you're older. For example, a recent Furthermore, a 2013 study published in Academy of Neurology found that young adults with higher cardiovascular fitness levels performed better on cognitive tests 25 years later compared to those who were less fit. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research study found that six weeks of agility training improved attention and memory among military personnel compared to their traditional military physical training.

While these and other studies had participants perform thinking tasks, a new Neurobiology of Aging study was the first to use MRI tests to get same-day measurements of artery health and cognition. And as the results show, artery health and cognition go hand-in-hand.

Researchers at the University of Montreal first tested the physical fitness of 31 young adults and 54 older adults using an exercise-until-exhaustion test. Then, within the next month, the researchers did MRI scans of the adults' brains as they performed a cognitive exam called the Stroop test (say the ink color of a word printed in a different color and other brain tasks) in addition to examining the arteries of the brain.

The study found that not only did older adults have slower times on the Stroop test compared to younger people, but also within the older group, those who had faster times had less stiff arteries and better cardiovascular fitness (VO2max). Overall, the older group had lower VO2max compared to the younger group. A decline in vascular health as we age ultimately leads to cognitive decline and cardiovascular exercise is a way to mediate these vascular changes and improve cognitive health, the researchers concluded.

It's never too late to start exercising, and now knowing that cardio can help keep your brain young, you've got no excuse.
5 Fitness "Rules" You Can Completely Ignore >>> Obesity Linked to 10 Cancers >>>

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Cardio Protects Your Brain - Fitness Research

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A mounting body of scientific evidence points to the suggestion that the more you exercise as a young adult, the better your brain will work when you're older. For example, a recent Furthermore, a 2013 study published in Academy of Neurology found that young adults with higher cardiovascular fitness levels performed better on cognitive tests 25 years later compared to those who were less fit.

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I think for my more in depth research question ill do. Can cardio workouts help alleviate depression.

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Some more narrow research questions I came up with are Does lifting weights affect the mind? Do cardio workouts help alleviate depression? Can frequent exercise help with memory? Can frequent gym visits help with focusing more?

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After my online research i found that physical activity causes you to be more focus, destress, and much more. I also wanted to go into depth on why these things are even important.

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Working out also causes you to stick to your goals, so why would it matter to stick to your goals?

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Do you lack enthusiasm and a zest for life? Are you somebody who believes that 'I will do that' but never actually does it. If you never do what you intend to do, you may well have a problem with motivation. When you have motivation, you are driven and more determined to create the life that you want to live. You don't suddenly believe that everything in life is easy but you know that you are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal, regardless of what challenge that poses. Many people suffer from a lack of motivation but just because it is common, it does not mean that you should accept that way of living. You were not put on Earth to live the same life as everybody else. You have your own , your own goals and you will also have your motivations.

Maybe you are unhappy with the life you are living or, maybe you are just unhappy with one or two aspects of that life. Either way, change is required. As Einstein argued, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. Well, if you are unhappy with something, doing the same thing over and over again is not going to change something. The desire to change is one of the most important factors in goal setting but it is not enough to have that desire just once. Desire for change must be maintained throughout the process and that is what motivation really is. When you set a goal, you are looking to change something. It is useful to ask yourself the following questions:

How will you benefit from accomplishing your goal?

How high (0-10) would you rate your motivation to accomplish your aspirations and goals?

Are you ambitious enough to stand out in whatever you do?

Do you truly believe that you're capable of accomplishing the aspirations you hoped for?

If you answer these questions honestly, you will have a better sense of your motivation levels.

The importance of motivation

Motivation is one of the most important factors in determining the level of success that you will achieve. Motivation is required throughout the entire goal process. The following are some key reasons why motivation is so important:

1. Identifying a goal

Goals come from a desire to change something in your life. You may be motivated by positive or negative factors. Maybe you are unhappy with some aspect of your life. If this is the case, you would identify what you want instead and set a goal to achieve it. Alternatively, there may be something which you enjoy in life but you would like to experience more of it or, there may be something which you would like to add to your life.

Whether it is a desire for change, a desire to add more or, a desire to add something new, it is motivation for improved circumstances which inspires the goal.

To set powerful goals, check out the Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting.

2. Prioritisation

Whatever you want to achieve in life, you will need to commit yourself to it and focus your energy on it. There is only so much that you can do as time and energy are limited resources. As you are constantly inundated with things that you could do, you need to be able to prioritise your activities and focus on the most important tasks. This allows you to achieve your best results. Motivation is critical in helping you to determine which activities should be prioritised.

3. Action

Anybody can draw up a plan but the value of that plan will never be known until you put it into action. Setting a goal is not enough to achieve it. You need to take consistent, decisive and effective action to bring that goal to reality. The difference between those who consistently take action towards their goals and those who do not, is motivation. There will be days when you don't really want to do anything. On these days, it is your high levels of motivation that will push you through.

4. Overcoming setbacks

One of my favourite books is The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield. In one section of the book, Jack provides a rather amazing statistic. He tells us that 94% of all salespeople have given up on the sale after the 4th time of asking but 60% of all sales are made after the 4th time of asking. That means that 94% of salespeople miss out on the chance of making the sale because they don't have the motivation to keep asking.

This can be applied to all goals. How many times have you given up on something just because you hit an obstacle? Almost any goal worth achieving is going to require some resilience. You will hit obstacles and when you do, you must decide whether you will continue or give up. Motivation will ensure that you keep going.

5. Staying the course

Many of your most important goals will require a great deal of time to accomplish. It is easy to lose motivation and lose sight of your objectives. If you allow this to happen, you may never reach your end goal. It requires a special kind of person to keep their eye on the prize for a long period of time and, keep taking consistent action towards their goal. What makes these people special is that they are highly motivated and they take action to reinforce their motivation on a regular basis.

A clear vision for life and, effective goals to realise that vision, are essential if you want to live your best life. However, goals and a vision are only dreams unless you take consistent action to bring them to life. To take this consistent action requires motivation. Motivation rarely happens by accident and, when it does, it rarely lasts for long. If you want to experience the long-lasting motivation which will help you to stick with your most important goals, from conception to achievement, you are going to need to work on it. No matter what goal you set, never lose sight of your need for motivation as it will be the one thing that will push you through the tough times.

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The importance of motivation. Stay on track for your goals.

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Do you lack enthusiasm and a zest for life? Are you somebody who believes that 'I will do that' but never actually does it. If you never do what you intend to do, you may well have a problem with motivation.

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Another outcome of exercising is staying focused so why is this important?

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The ability to stay focused is an important part of daily life. No matter your career, responsibilities, or primary functions that you want to perform. It is important that you can focus on what you are doing at all times. Imagine talking to a friend and not being able to focus on the story he or she is telling you, it is frustrating for both of you. You want to be a good friend and offer your opinion and/or support. Your friend needs someone to talk to that can give some type of feedback. Being able to focus is going to make you feel more positive about yourself in any type of situation. You can improve your focus by changing your diet and exercise routines.

Eliminating Caffeine

For some, caffeinated beverages serve as a crutch to make it through a long day's work. Caffeine is not full of benefits though. Cutting out caffeinated beverages is one area of slight improvement. Caffeine can make you jittery, anxious and can keep you up at night when you need to rest. Eventually you will require more to maintain the same focus it gave you when you first added it to your daily life. Your body gets used to it after a while, and demands it when you do not have it. You can get headaches which are disrupting and harm your focus ability. If it is impossible to completely cut caffeine out, be aware of the time period in which you can consume it without disrupting your sleep. The amount of sleep you get each night is extremely important to focus.

Increasing Exercise

Exercising regularly is not only good for your body but it helps your mental capacity. You will feel a difference when your memory is sharper because of the increased focused ability. Exercising releases endorphins that are natural pain relievers and helps take away feelings of depression and anxiety, allowing more focus.

Healthy Eating Habits

Eating the right foods and drinking the right amount of fluids are just what your body needs to fuel and perform at its best. The best foods to eat are those with plenty of vitamins and minerals (for example, certain fruits and vegetables) needed to break down fat and cholesterol and give you optimum energy levels. Having enough energy is important to focus.

How Focus Helps

Focus is an important part of doing our best work, whether it is at school or on the job. The more focused and prepared you can be, the better it is. For a student, focusing on the material your teaching is covering is essential. There are always tests and assignments and without focus, how can those be completed? The ability to focus lies solely on the outcome of one's grades in a course. The same situation can be applied in a work environment and completing projects and everyday tasks. Getting sleep and taking care of your body are examples of how you can improve focus. If you are frequently ill, it is difficult to focus because your body is putting all of its energy toward healing and recovering and that is all you can possibly focus on. Not the important task at hand.

Sources: http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/fatigue/basics/definition/sym-20050894

Photo Credit: eyeore2710

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The ability to stay focused is an important part of daily life. No matter your career, responsibilities, or primary functions that you want to perform. It is important that you can focus on what you are doing at all times.

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I wanted to go a little deeper in understanding why all these things that are caused by physical activity, and why its important. So why is detressing important?

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Abstract

Distressing and positive experiences for adolescents with cancer with regard to being told the diagnosis, receiving chemotherapy and being admitted to the ward, and important aspects of care for adolescents with cancer was investigated. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 23 adolescents and 21 nurses, and analysed by content analysis. The findings indicate that cancer during adolescence is connected with a range of negative experiences such as fears of alienation, fears of altered appearance, fears of dying, and various physical concerns. Positive experiences include positive relations to staff and being well cared for. Important care for adolescents treated for cancer consists mainly of meeting nice, friendly, supportive, and competent staff, who provide them with age-appropriate information. The findings indicate that adolescents with cancer experience a range of negative and positive experiences related to disease and treatment and that good care for adolescents with cancer is a broad, complex, and multidimensional phenomenon.

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national center for biotechnology information

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Distressing and positive experiences and important aspects of care for adolescents treated for cancer. Adolescent and nurse perceptions - PubMed

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Distressing and positive experiences for adolescents with cancer with regard to being told the diagnosis, receiving chemotherapy and being admitted to the ward, and important aspects of care for adolescents with cancer was investigated. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 23 a ...

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In this site it gave scientific reasons how exercising affects the mind.

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he brain is often described as being "like a muscle". It's a comparison that props up the brain training industry and keeps school children hunched over desks. We judge literacy and numeracy exercises as more beneficial for your brain than running, playing and learning on the move.

But the brain-as-muscle analogy doesn't quite work. To build up your biceps you can't avoid flexing them. When it comes to your brain, an oblique approach can be surprisingly effective. In particular, working your body's muscles can actually benefit your grey matter.

Scientists are showing that the runner's high and the yogi's tranquility have profound effects on your brain. Moreover, specific physical activities can markedly alter its structure in precise ways.

A wave of studies exploring the unexpected links between mental and bodily fitness is emerging from labs. This research might give you the impetus to get more active. It can also help you choose the best ways to prepare physically for mental challenges such as exams, interviews and creative projects.

Boost your memory

The part of the brain that responds strongly to aerobic exercise is the hippocampus. Well-controlled experiments in children, adults and the elderly show that this brain structure grows as people get fitter. Since the hippocampus is at the core of the brain's learning and memory systems, this finding partly explains the memory-boosting effects of improved cardiovascular fitness.

As well as slowly improving your memory hardware, exercise can have a more immediate impact on memory formation. German researchers showed that walking or cycling during, but not before, learning helped new foreign language vocabulary to stick. So exercise while you revise. Don't push it too hard, though: vigorous workouts can raise your stress levels, which can scupper your memory circuits.

Improve your concentration

Besides making memories stickier, exercise can help you focus and stay on task. The best scientific evidence comes from testing school children, but the same most likely applies to us all. Interspersing lessons with 20-minute bouts of aerobics-style exercise improved the attention spans of Dutch school pupils. Meanwhile, a large randomised controlled trial in the US looked at the effects of daily after-school sports classes over a school year. The children, of course, got fitter. Less predictably, their executive control improved. They became more adept at ignoring distractions, multitasking, and holding and manipulating information in their minds.

And if that all sounds like hard work, you may not have to get out of breath to reap the attention-honing effects of exercise. Just 10 minutes of playful coordination skills, like bouncing two balls at the same time, improved the attention of a large group of German teenagers.

Improve your mental health

Love it or hate it, bouts of physical activity can have potent effects on your mood. The runner's high - that feeling of elation that follows intense exercise - is real. Even mice get it. It may not be due to an "endorphin rush", though. Levels of the body's homemade opiate do rise in the bloodstream, but it's not clear how much endorphin actually gets into the brain. Instead, recent evidence points to a pleasurable and pain-killing firing of the endocannabinoid system: the psychoactive receptor of cannabis.

What about yoga? Does it really help with stress? When anxiety levels rise, you tense up, your heart races and your attention narrows to a slit. This shift to "fight or flight" mode is automatic, but that doesn't mean it's wholly out of your control. Yoga teaches the deliberate command of movement and breathing, with the aim of turning on the body's "relaxation response". Science increasingly backs this claim. For example, a 2010 study put participants through eight weeks of daily yoga and meditation practice. In parallel with self-reported stress-reduction, brain scans showed shrinkage of part of their amygdala, a deep-brain structure strongly implicated in processing stress, fear and anxiety.

Exercise is also emerging as a promising way to overcome depression. A 2013 meta-analysis cautiously reported that exercise - both aerobic and resistance - was "moderately effective" in treating depressive symptoms. Strikingly, exercise seemed as effective as antidepressant drugs and psychological treatments. The study's authors identified it as an area crying out for more rigorous investigation.

Enhance your creativity

Thoreau, Nietzsche and many other creative types have claimed that walking gives wings to the imagination. Last year, psychologists gave this empirical support. Walking, either on a treadmill or around Stanford's leafy campus, bolstered divergent thinking: the free-roaming, idea-generating component of creative thought. It didn't help convergent thinking, though. So if you're struggling to home in on a single solution, an idle stroll may not be what you need.

Slowing cognitive decline

The evidence that staying physically fit keeps your brain healthy into old age is especially compelling. Most concrete is the link between aerobic fitness and cognitive preservation. Workouts needn't be extreme either: 30-45 minutes of brisk walking, three times a week, can help fend off the mental wear and tear and delay the onset of dementia. It pays to get used to regular exercise early, though. The protective effects are clearest before the cognitive signs of old age kick in.

Nor is it all about your heart and lungs. Exercises to improve balance, coordination and agility made a clear impact on the brain structure and cognitive function of a large group of German elderly people. Twice weekly sessions of weightlifting can have a visible neurological impact. Dancing may also be restorative for ageing brains. Just an hour of dance a week, for six months, did little for elderly participants' aerobic capacity, but the physical and social stimulation bolstered their cognitive wellbeing.

Researchers are still teasing out the critical factors that make exercise such a potent brain tonic. Prime suspects include increased blood flow to the brain, surges of growth hormones and expansion of the brain's network of blood vessels. It's also possible that exercise stimulates the birth of new neurons. Until recently, few believed this could happen in adult human brains.

Don't sit still

The cognitive spillover from exercise reminds us that our brains don't operate in isolation. What you do with your body impinges on your mental faculties. Sitting still all day, every day, is dangerous. So don't dither about what form of exercise you do. Find something you enjoy, then get up and do it. Right, I'm off for a jog.
Ben Martynoga is a neuroscientist and science writer. He's currently a visiting researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London. He tweets at @mountainogre. Get involved with the Use your head series by joining the discussion on #useyourhead

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How physical exercise makes your brain work better

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he brain is often described as being "like a muscle". It's a comparison that props up the brain training industry and keeps school children hunched over desks. We judge literacy and numeracy exercises as more beneficial for your brain than running, playing and learning on the move.

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I found that this site gave how the exercises affects the body and mind.

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Physical exercise is not only important for your body's health- it also helps your brain stay sharp.

Your brain is no different than rest of the muscles in your body--you either use it or you lose it. You utilize the gym to stimulate the growth of muscle cells, just as you use a brain fitness program to increase connections in your brain. But you can actually get an additional brain boost by donning your sneakers and hitting the gym. The benefits of physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise, have positive effects on brain function on multiple fronts, ranging from the molecular to behavioral level. According to a study done by the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Georgia, even briefly exercising for 20 minutes facilitates information processing and memory functions.

Exercise affects the brain on multiple fronts. It increases heart rate, which pumps more oxygen to the brain. It also aids the bodily release of a plethora of hormones, all of which participate in aiding and providing a nourishing environment for the growth of brain cells.

Exercise stimulates the brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in a wide array of important cortical areas of the brain. Recent research from UCLA demonstrated that exercise increased growth factors in the brain-making it easier for the brain to grow new neuronal connections.

From a behavioral perspective, the same antidepressant-like effects associated with "runner's high" found in humans is associated with a drop in stress hormones. A study from Stockholm showed that the antidepressant effect of running was also associated with more cell growth in the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for learning and memory.

The Golden Duo: Mental and Physical Exercise
The usage of physical exercise in conjunction with BrainHQ brain training increases your chances of increasing cognitive functions within parameters, including time of exercise and style of exercise. Interestingly, differences between exercise styles, such as opting for cycling over running, is associated with an enhanced brain function during and after working out. Ballroom dancing, an activity with both physical and mental demands has had a higher impact on cognitive functioning over exercise or mental tasks alone, indicating that the best brain health workouts involve those that integrate different parts of the brain such as coordination, rhythm, and strategy.
Tips for Choosing The Right Physical Exercise

In general, anything that is good for your heart is great for your brain.

Aerobic exercise is great for body and brain: not only does it improve brain function, but it also acts as a "first aid kit" on damaged brain cells.

Exercising in the morning before going to work not only spikes brain activity and prepares you for mental stresses for the rest of the day, but also produces increases retention of new information, and better reaction to complex situations.

When looking to change up your work out, look for an activity that incorporates coordination along with cardiovascular exercise, such as a dance class.

If you like crunching time at the gym alone, opt for circuit work outs, which both quickly spike your heart rate, but also constantly redirect your attention.

Hitting a wall or mentally exhausted? Try rebooting with a few jumping jacks for your brain improvement exercises.

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Your brain is no different than rest of the muscles in your body--you either use it or you lose it. You utilize the gym to stimulate the growth of muscle cells, just as you use a brain fitness program to increase connections in your brain.

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In this website it gave actual studies on how physical exercise helps "improves mood and sleep, and reduces stress and anxiety". So i can look into theses studies and find some more detailed info about this project.

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There are plenty of good reasons to be physically active. Big ones include reducing the odds of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Maybe you want to lose weight, lower your blood pressure, prevent depression, or just look better. Here's another one, which especially applies to those of us (including me) experiencing the brain fog that comes with age: exercise changes the brain in ways that protect memory and thinking skills.

In a study done at the University of British Columbia, researchers found that regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning. Resistance training, balance and muscle toning exercises did not have the same results.

The finding comes at a critical time. Researchers say one new case of dementia is detected every four seconds globally. They estimate that by the year 2050, more than 115 million people will have dementia worldwide.

Exercise and the brain

Exercise helps memory and thinking through both direct and indirect means. The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors-chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.

Indirectly, exercise improves mood and sleep, and reduces stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment.

Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory (the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex) have greater volume in people who exercise versus people who don't. "Even more exciting is the finding that engaging in a program of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions," says Dr. Scott McGinnis, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Put it to the test

So what should you do? Start exercising! We don't know exactly which exercise is best. Almost all of the research has looked at walking, including the latest study. "It's likely that other forms of aerobic exercise that get your heart pumping might yield similar benefits," says Dr. McGinnis.

How much exercise is required to improve memory? These study participants walked briskly for one hour, twice a week. That's 120 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. Standard recommendations advise half an hour of moderate physical activity most days of the week, or 150 minutes a week. If that seems daunting, start with a few minutes a day, and increase the amount you exercise by five or 10 minutes every week until you reach your goal.

If you don't want to walk, consider other moderate-intensity exercises, such as swimming, stair climbing, tennis, squash, or dancing. Don't forget that household activities can count as well, such as intense floor mopping, raking leaves, or anything that gets your heart pumping so much that you break out in a light sweat.

Don't have the discipline to do it on your own? Try any or all of these ideas:

Join a class or work out with a friend who'll hold you accountable.

Track your progress, which encourages you to reach a goal.

If you're able, hire a personal trainer. (Paying an expert is good motivation.)

Whatever exercise and motivators you choose, commit to establishing exercise as a habit, almost like taking a prescription medication. After all, they say that exercise is medicine, and that can go on the top of anyone's list of reasons to work out.

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Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills - Harvard Health Blog

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There are plenty of good reasons to be physically active. Big ones include reducing the odds of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Maybe you want to lose weight, lower your blood pressure, prevent depression, or just look better.

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This website i found pretty helpful. I found some interesting things I didn't know. Its really cool to me how something you do physically with your body can have such a big impact on your mind and thinking.

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You know that exercise helps you stay fit and toned and can help you slim down. But that's soooo not the only reason to hit the gym-it's also hugely helpful for your psyche. We rounded up the top ways that it helps your brain, not just your body:

1. It helps alleviate depression: Research shows that exercise is so effective at chasing away the blues, it can even help treat major depressive disorder. In fact, last year, researchers at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center came up with clinical guidelines for the necessary exercise "dose" doctors should recommend to patients to reap the antidepressant effects.

2. It improves your memory: Getting your heart rate up improves blood flow to the brain, which helps boost memory and overall brain function. In one study that looked at brain structure pre- and post-workout, researchers found increases in brain volume in a number of areas after participants got sweaty. The effect is pretty noticable, too: Patients in the study did 10 to 15 percent better on a variety of memory and attention tasks after they'd exercised.

3. It helps you de-stress: When you're stressed, it's often because your to-do list is a mile long-so you probably feel like it would just be more nerve-wracking to try to squeeze in a workout on top of everything else. But here's why you should: A study that came out last year from the University of Colorado at Boulder found that even forced exercise can help protect you from anxiety and stress. So stop making excuses, and get thee to the gym when you're feeling frantic.

4. It makes you more focused: After evaluating more than 100 studies on exercise, University of Iowa researchers concluded that strength training helps your focus because it requires focus: After all, it takes some serious effort to eek out those reps without sacrificing the correct form, all while remembering to breathe and tuning out the distracting guy huffing and puffing beside you.

5. It helps you stick to your goals: In the same University of Iowa study, researchers concluded that, since cardio requires such long and consistent effort, doing a lot of it may help you develop an ability to follow through with tasks. That, in turn, can help you stick to other (non-exercise-related) goals that require long-term effort.

MORE: Julianne Hough's Secret Workout Weapon

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You know that exercise helps you stay fit and toned and can help you slim down. But that's soooo not the only reason to hit the gym-it's also hugely helpful for your psyche. We rounded up the top ways that it helps your brain, not just your body: 1.

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Liz,

There's lots out there about the connections between mental health/wellness and excercise...

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Ultimately, the researchers found several large-scale past studies that met their criteria. Together, they contained data on more than 1,140,000 adult men and women.

Among these million-plus people, the links between fitness and mental health turned out to be considerable. When the researchers divided the group into thirds, based on how aerobically fit they were, those men and women with the lowest fitness were about 75 percent more likely to have been given diagnoses of depression than the people with the greatest fitness. The men and women in the middle third were almost 25 percent more likely to develop depression than those who were the most fit.

In a separate study (some of the scientists were involved in each of the reviews), researchers looked at whether exercise might be useful as a treatment for depression. In that analysis, which was published in June in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, they pooled data from 25 past studies in which people with clinically diagnosed depression began some type of exercise program. Each study had to include a control group that did not exercise and be otherwise methodologically sophisticated.

The pooled results persuasively showed that exercise, especially if it is moderately strenuous, such as brisk walking or jogging, and supervised, so that people complete the entire program, has a "large and significant effect" against depression, the authors wrote. People's mental health tended to demonstrably improve if they were physically active.

The final review offers some hints about why. Published in February in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, it took on the difficult issue of what happens within our bodies during and after exercise that might affect and improve our moods. The researchers analyzed 20 past studies in which scientists had obtained blood samples from people with major depression before and after they had exercised. The samples on the whole indicated that exercise significantly reduced various markers of inflammation and increased levels of a number of different hormones and other biochemicals that are thought to contribute to brain health.

But the researchers also caution that most of the physiological studies they reviewed were too small and short-term to allow for firm conclusions about how exercise might change the brain to help fight off gloom.

Still, the three reviews together make a sturdy case for exercise as a means to bolster mental as well as physical health, said Felipe Barreto Schuch, an exercise scientist at the Centro Universitário La Salle in Canoas, Brazil, who, with Brendon Stubbs, a professor at King's College in London, was a primary author on all of the reviews.

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How Exercise Might Keep Depression at Bay

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Ultimately, the researchers found several large-scale past studies that met their criteria. Together, they contained data on more than 1,140,000 adult men and women. Among these million-plus people, the links between fitness and mental health turned out to be considerable.

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I've been working out at the gym for about three months and I feel more upbeat and overall in a better mood and i want to know why, how.