by preeti Khanuja __
Find out how exercise helps a huge deal when you are depressed.
If you’re battling depression, you would know that the physical effects can be just as overwhelming as the emotional ones. You may feel tired perpetually, lack of sleep, chronic aches and pains and even fluctuation in appetite. So, even though everyone in your life suggests that you should go out there to do some form of exercise it’s not always easy to actually do it .
But its important to know that exercise is incredibly helpful for reducing depression in ways more than one: it improves your mood in both the short and long term, it’s a way to find social support, and the setting and achieving of goals infuses overall sense of confidence, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). From a physiological standpoint exercise has been shown to increase the size of hippocampus – the area of the brain that regulates mood says the Harvard Health Review.
To top it all, some studies have dwelled on how aerobic exercise compares with psychiatric medications that are often prescribed as a treatment for a depressive disorder. A study showed that after participating in a 10-month aerobic exercise regimen, people with major depressive disorder were less depressed than those who took simply took medication. In other words, while exercise alone can’t “cure” depression, it can be one helpful form of treatment.
If you are seeking support for depression, then it’s worthwhile to speak to your mental healthcare provider about how exercise can be part of your treatment plan. You must try and pick a workout plan that you really enjoy doing and remember to start small sometimes even a 20 minute walk can do all the wonders.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that exercise does not have the power to change the way you think and feel but its one of the most effective tools to help you feel better along with psychotherapy, medications, and other equally important forms of self-care.
