Are You Exercising Your Way To Stress?
Copyright 2005 Christopher GreenYou're right,
the headline is a very strange one! Exercise is
vital to maintain good health and most of the
time, the benefits of exercise far out-weigh the
drawbacks. But if you suffer from a stressful
or a depressive illness, exercise can actually
make you feel worse.
But how can this be?I'm sure
you've heard the following statement over and
over again: exercise can help you to beat stress,
or alleviate anxiety or boost a depressed mind.
This is only true in part. Because many exercises
can actually worsen these illnesses. And even
if you perform exercises that can help, these
exercises will only help temporarily.The reason
many people believe exercise to be helpful in
combating stressful and depressive illnesses is
because when you exercise vigorously for longer
than 20 minutes, your body floods with endorphins.
These chemicals give us a buzz, and this is
why it is widely believed that exercise can cure
stress, depression or anxiety.If you're suffering
a stressful or depressive episode, you'll know
that no matter how regularly you exercise, the
bad feelings return. The only way to beat these
illnesses is to treat the root cause - flawed
modes of thinking. Exercise, though great for
our bodies, simply doesn't do anything to address
modes of thinking. When my anxiety was at it's
worst back in 2000, I exercised 4 times a week.
For 2 days, I'd perform weight-training exercises.
These exercises are the type of exercise that
can actually make you feel worse because you have
time to think about all of the issues and problems
you have in your life at the time. I'd also warm
up and warm down on bike machines or cross-trainers.
Again, you can perform these exercises easily
so you can think about your problems.
For my other workouts, I'd perform instructor-led
circuit training sessions. As you're listening
out for instructions and performing sequences
of exercises at a high tempo, you don't have time
to dwell on your troubles and worries. The problem
is that once you stop exercising, you return to
the modes of thinking which lead to stress, depression
or anxiety.As soon as my workout had finished,
I'd perform flawed modes of thinking, that made
me anxious and depressed. Exercising did very
little to stop me performing these flawed thought
processes.Do be aware of what's happening when
you exercise. Exercises that don't require much
concentration may have you brooding over your
troubles as you perform them. Jogging, walking,
exercise machines, weight-training are all examples
of such exercises. Instead, try ones that are
more intensive or competitive so your whole concentration
is required. Circuit-training worked for me, so
did sports like soccer and badminton.
The idea is to give yourself a period of time
where you're not thinking about your problems
and worries. And of course, you'll do your body
a whole heap of good too!The point here is to
understand that exercise can only provide temporary
relief. The only way to find permanent relief
from your suffering is to understand and address
flawed modes of thinking. And, just as physical
exercise benefits our bodies, mental skills leading
to better modes of thinking will bring enormous
benefits to our minds.The following quote sums
it up in a nutshell:
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