Anxiety (and depression for that matter), are major mood and disposition issues here in the US and abroad. There are tons of pharmaceutical medications conceived of every year that are supposed to be the next best thing when it comes to treating and/or at least alleviating anxiety and stress as well as depressive disorders, and not one of them comes without a long list of potential side effects and warnings.
Some can even catapult someone into a downward spiral if certain variables are present, as documented in several cases. Over the past decade alone, several anti anxiety meds have gotten bad raps as being too laden with serious side effects, including serious withdrawal upon stopping the medication, akin to someone withdrawing from serious street drugs. But there is something you can do that can and does dramatically reduce anxiety and instills a constant sense of peace and calm.
What is it? Exercise of course, silly! Exercise, in its many varied forms serves as not only a natural anti anxiety remedy, but it also wards off depression and many different diseases and disorders. Best of all, it’s free if you don’t pay to go to a gym (besides of course the initial investment in any equipment like a proform treadmill and elliptical machines or weight machines and other various exercise do-dads).
But it most definitely can be free if you just use your imagination a bit. You can jog, run, walk, do pushups, swim like the great Olympian Michael Phelps has done to the tune of record gold medals, do yoga, tai chi and other indoor floor work types of exercises that do not require equipment or weights, just using your body as resistence completely free of charge in or near your own home.
Exercise in many different forms, and ones that bring your joy or that you find kind of fun. Switch it up and keep it interesting, because just enjoying the type of exercise you do can have an immense impact on whether you keep doing it or not and also enhances mood, which helps zap anxiety and depression. Make sure you get your heart rate up, because this is key to reducing anxiety in the long run, although it may run contrary to initial thoughts.
Sometimes anxiety is simply pent up, extra energy that we need to expend, and that’s why working out helps in the most amazing way from relieving the angst feeling that seems to envelope your chest when it has you in its grips. For me, exercise provides almost instant relief, and most definitely provides a long lasting mood boost.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Fitness Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.