Counselor’s Corner:
Exercise Your Blues Away

When you start your day depressed, anxious or just not feeling your best, try this for a quick way to remedy your mood. Get out the door and move your body. By doing so, you will be giving yourself the best medicine you have to change a bad emotion to a positive one.

We all know regular exercise is good for the body, such as a slimmer waistline and weight loss, but did you realize how excellent it is for your mental health?

Exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve your mental health. It has a profoundly positive impact on many mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD.

So for healthier mental health, it’s important to find something you enjoy and get moving. The quality of your mental health depends largely on you taking care of your physical self. You’re a spiritual, physical and emotional being. Exercise is a way to have a healthier body for your spirit and emotions.

Exercise improves your physical health, but that is not what motivates most people to stay active. Fitness buffs know firsth hand that exercise gives you an enormous sense of well-being with more energy, while allowing you to feel more relaxed and positive about yourself. It’s a powerful medicine that doesn’t come in a pill but can be as effective to treat depression.

When you move your body, potent feel-good chemicals are released in your brain chemistry. Exercise releases endorphins and dopamine, powerful chemicals in your brain that energize your spirit and make you feel amazing! Yet, don’t take my word for it! Get out and move your body to experience the difference!

Another benefit is exercise can serve as a distraction, allowing you to find some quiet time to break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that feed depression.

Finally, think of not exercising as not stirring the waters of a pond. Our bodies are approximately two-thirds water. Stirring the waters with exercise is essential for you to prevent “bodily stagnation.” Think of what happens when water sits for a long time in a cup, puddle or pond. It eventually gets covered with slime and gunk, breeds disease, and becomes toxic. That process is similar to what’s going on in many people’s bodies.

Yet when you exercise, the waters move, life thrives. Running water is usually fresh water. Rivers and waterfalls are beautiful and inviting – alive. That’s a perfect picture of what exercise does.

It refreshes your body and clears it of toxins and cellular garbage, sharpening your mind and giving you strength and energy.

So when you exercise, think of it as the remedy to prevent death and “stir the waters of life” in our bodies.

Your body was designed to move. It needs water, rest, food and exercise to run smoothly. When you “park” yourself in a chair and don’t exercise, eventually you ruin your engine. Many people are sick because they haven’t stirred their waters with movement and action. Soon they will get to the point where they can’t exercise because their bodies get so broken.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and move your body to become a better you, both physically and mentally. Enjoy the journey to a new, improved you by finding some fun through exercise!