Mental help? – Answer = exercise
Many people suffer mental health and ongoing studies now show that exercise is proven to help with this condition.
Exercise reduces stress, depression and anxiety, lowers risk of stroke, lowers incidence of breast cancer in women, reduces (when elevated) blood pressure, increases function and mobility with less pain in arthritis sufferers, improves total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (aerobic exercise combined with weight loss),improves cardiovascular fitness which improves body composition and obesity management, maintains and/or increases bone mineral density for osteoporosis management, improves musculoskeletal health and prevention of sarcopenia, improves blood triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol (independently improved with aerobic exercise), lowers incidence in colon cancer, better management and prevent of diabetes, enhances self esteem and mood state.
Cognitive function: the process of thought
Exercise program best to improve cognitive function?
– Aerobic exercise, resistance training and flexibility combined
– The combined training programs encourages a broad range of brain neural and chemical adaptations
– Mechanisms for exercise for brain health.
New cell generation in hippocampus; area for leaning and memory
- Increase in neurotransmitters; chemical messengers
- Increase in brain vessels: better oxygen circulation in brain
Ancient Greek Philosophy, ‘A sound mind in a sound body’
Having worked with clients whom have had a mental illness condition, they have shared with me some of their feelings and battles each day.
As a personal trainer, I have learnt that each day/week/month is different and some more challenging than others. At the beginning I found they would attend a couple of sessions, then go missing for a few weeks, then come back for a bit more training, then go missing for a few days, until maybe over 4-6 months – they came on a regular basis (and still do).
Like any condition/injury/illness you have to work through these a bit at a time. But the outcome usually is successful by them improving not only their mental health but their wellbeing.
Each individual connects differently with a variety of exercises, some embrace more on the strength side, some more with cardiovascular and then others with a meditation side.
I find that majority of these individuals have an eating disorder as well, that being an emotional eater, so therefore this is another area that again takes time to control. Once getting their exercise plan right, the food side can follow. Most importantly is to focus on what and where their mind is at and work each day/week etc with them.
If you suffer from anxiety or know anyone that does, I really encourage you/them to start some exercise, be it walking or riding anything gentle is fine. Or if you want to try strength/resistance training get in contact with a registered fitness advisor/personal trainer to see how you can benefit from giving yourself some time and much needed endorphin release.
Some beneficial information is the Yoga/meditation:
– Yoga and meditation combined
– Prana=energy, yama=control, ayama=to expand
– Pranayama breathing is the ‘the practice of voluntary breath control’
– It is ‘the intermediary between mind and body’
– It refers to ‘life force’
– Breathing supplies the oxygen for life
– Goal of Pranayama breathing: not to override the autonomic system control; but to provide a temporary shift away from its sympathetic (accelerating) dominance
-The Goal of Pranayama breathing is to reset the autonomic nervous system
– How does Pranayama breathing work?
– During the day we are affected by fatigue, emotional arousal, lost of self-control, sleep deprivation, hormones release, life behaviors disruption: all lead to STRESS
– This stress manifests itself in pain, muscle tension, high blood pressure, somatic turmoil, mental health problems, weakened immune, shallow breathing patterns and an elevated sympathetic nervous system
– Pranayama breathing is a ‘neutralizing’ intervention to the consequences of stress
– Health benefits from Pranayama breathing. Jerath, R. et al (2006). Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: Neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanism that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system. Medical Hypothesis, 67, 566-571.
- Improve immune function
- Lower high blood pressure
- Lessen asthma symptoms
- Balance neural imbalances
- Improve stress-related disorders
- Improve psychological health
- What is the physiological mechanism at work? Balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems
- Pranayama breathing and yoga connection? “The practice of asanas develops the muscular strength and flexibility to maintain good posture alignment, which improves diaphragmatic breathing.” (Slovic)
