Depression and anxiety symptoms can often be rectified with regular exercising. When you suffer from anxiety or panic attacks, you may not think about how regular exercise improves mood. But once you get motivated, it can make a huge difference to your health. Here are some tips that will get you started.
Exercise prevents a number of health issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and depression. According to psychological research, physical workouts can also help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. The link between exercise and anxiety is not exactly clear but it can definitely make you feel better. Regular exercising helps ease low moods by releasing the feel-good chemicals that are present in the brain. It also reduces immune system chemicals that make depression worse. There are also many psychological benefits to physical workouts, some of which are explained below. Your self-confidence can get a boost when you get in shape and improve your appearance. You can get more social interaction through physical activity which gives you a chance to socialize with them. Physical workouts are not just about gaining muscle mass. They can improve your physique, tone your waistline, and add years to your life.
People who work out regularly tend to feel better about themselves. They feel more energetic, sleep better at night, and have sharper memories. There is no need to spend many hours doing strenuous exercises in the gym in order to achieve results.
The benefits of physical workouts are supported by extensive research. It is even recommended by doctors for conditions such as anxiety, heart disease, and depression. Think of it as free medicine that comes without any side effects. By working out half an hour a day doing moderate exercises, your mental health will surely improve. In fact, a 20-minute cycling helps you reduce stress. It can also distract you from all your worries and push away negative thoughts. Regular workouts lift the mood by releasing endorphins. These are powerful chemicals in the brain that make you feel good. Spending at least 20 minutes a day working out, cycling, walking, swimming, or jogging is a very health choice. Maintaining a workout schedule can prevent you from relapsing into low moods. You can keep your motivation level at a high by changing your routine from cycling to walking and so on. Regular activity is a great investment for healthy mind, body, and soul. Once you turn it into habit, your sense of self-worth becomes stronger and more powerful. You will feel better about your physical appearance and will even be able to meet your future goals. Even short bursts of workouts in the morning before breakfast can improve your sleeping patterns. This can be anything from pilates to yoga. To boost your energy levels, you can try and increase your heart rate by going out for a jog. Start off by walking briskly before increasing your pace in order to feel more energized. If you are faced with mental or emotional challenge at home or workplace, doing a physical workout can help you cope better. Rather than turning to drugs or alcohol, you can opt for regular workouts to boost your immune system and reduce anxiety symptoms. This is a better option than other negative behaviors that will only make you feel worse. To reap into the benefits even more, try to dedicate a few hours a week to train at the gym. A 30 minute moderate workout five times a day is all you need to improve your mental health. However, if you don't have the time to devote, you may split the 30 minutes into two halves as these will work just as well. If all the above suggestions make you feel a little overwhelmed, not to worry as just a few minutes of physical activity is better than none at all. Remember that the more you work out at the gym or at home, the better your quality of sleep and the more energy you will have. Why not try and incorporate your workouts with your friends who can join you in the physical activity. This not only helps you feel motivated, but it can also improve your mood. If you can't find a friend then signing up for some Bootcamp lessons or personal training can help break you out of the isolation cycle and add extra motivation and peer support. Humans are naturally tribe animals and being in a group come with lots of positives. As exercising becomes habit, you may slowly start to introduce new activities that you enjoy the most. As long as you keep at it, you will soon start seeing the many benefits that physical workouts have in your life.
There are many reasons to take a more focussed and conscious approach to your health and fitness. Here are just a few.
* Your Mood Will Be Better * Exercise helps you beat heart disease and other conditions * You'll have more energy * It'll improve your love life * You'll be able to get to (and maintain) a healthier weight * You'll sleep better * Your focus will improve * It will help you with sports you play or compete in * Reduces the risk of injury, and helps with recovery and rehabilitation * It's fun (and hard work at times) One of the best things about living in Edinburgh is the sheer choice available for keeping fit and staying strong. I don't want to try and replicate Yellow Pages (lol) by giving the names of every single personal trainer in Edinburgh or all of the gyms but I think it could be useful to list a few so you can begin the process of finding the right one for you. Please read my previous post where I give some advice based on my experience of finding a trainer. EDINBURGH PERSONAL TRAINERS
Trillium Fitness
19 North Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1SD Tel: 07411 478587 http://www.trilliumfitness.co.uk/ Chris Richards Personal Training CarltonNorth Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1SDPhone:07708 553425 www.chrisrichardspt.com Balanced Fitness 35-37 North West Circus Place Edinburgh EH3 6TW Phone:0131 2226 4217 balancedfitness.co.uk Luke Bremner Fitness Ltd 3b Jamaica Street Edinburgh EH3 6HH Tel:0131 516 2063 www.yourpersonaltraineredinburgh.com EDINBURGH GYMS
Pure Gym
Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre Ocean Terminal Ocean Drive Edinburgh EH6 6JJTel:0845 477 0005puregym.com Edinburgh Leisure (gyms across the city) 3 Cultins Road Edinburgh EH11 4DFPhone:0131 458 2100 http://www.edinburghleisure.co.uk/ Virgin Active Fountain Park Dundee Street Edinburgh Tel: 0131 221 8000 www.virginactive.co.uk It's one of the most important decisions you will make - choosing the right personal trainer can help accelerate you towards your health goals and help you stay injury free. Choosing the wrong one can keep you spinning your wheels without much progress, and worse, fritter away your motivation. So, based on my experience here are a few things to bear in mind. This is by no means a comprehensive list but hopefully it will give you some things to think about. Do You Like Them? Do They Listen To You? This might seem like a strange question to begin with but I have found it to the most vital. The first trainer I worked with was "assigned" to me when I signed up for a series of sessions at a gym I had joined. They looked the part, had plenty of relevant qualifications, and were considered by many of the people who used the gym to be a great trainer. The problem was, though, that we just didn't "click". I found his style to be just a bit too pushy, I felt he was dismissive of what I was telling him, and that he was more interested in pushing his agenda than actually listening to me. Perhaps the fact that the wages were being paid by the gym rather than by me directly meant that he was less attentive. Who knows? Once I had finished my series of 16 sessions I felt relieved that it was over. In the end I left the gym a few weeks after that because I never felt truly comfortable after my experience. So, finding someone who you feel comfortable with and who listens and understands what you are communicating is vital. Your personal trainer is someone who you will be placing a lot of trust in, and working closely with. It's important that the relationship feels good. You may go through a few trainers before you find your guy or gal, but when you do find the right one the quest will seem worth it. Do They Walk Their Talk? This seems obvious but I've put it in here nonetheless. Do they look fit, strong, and healthy? Do they seem happy? To be brutally honest , if someone can't motivate themselves enough to stay on their game and exercise and eat healthily, how do you expect them to be able to motivate you? Congruence and integrity are vital. Do They Have Track Record Of Success?
It's important to have confidence in your trainer's abilities and the simplest way to discover this is to check out the experiences of their previous customers. Check their website for reviews and testimonials, and before/after photographs. If they have a Google page read the reviews on that as they have not been filtered by the owner and may be more representative than the ones of their own website. Do They Offer Trial Sessions? By this I don't mean free. No personal trainer worth their salt gives their services for nothing, but do they have an option where you can try one or two sessions before you book a series? As I mentioned I bought into a sixteen session package which turned into an unhappy experience and it was obvious to me from the first one that the chemistry just wasn't right. Don't put yourself in a position where you are tied into a relationship you don't want. Summary These few pointers should help you get clearer on choosing the right personal trainer for you. The good news is that in Edinburgh we have a very big choice, not just in the gyms but in freelance trainers who work from home, who will visit you, or who rent spaces in hotels and sports clubs. There's bound to be one in there who is a good fit for you. In the next article I'll list a few of them so you can choose. |
AuthorHi, my name is Brian Whittaker. I've lived in Edinburgh since 2011 and I love keeping fit. ArchivesCategories |