For years now, there has been a proven link between good mental health and exercise, with many studies backing this up. Whether it’s playing football with your mates, or sweating it out on the treadmill, exercise is a necessary part of every human’s life. In this modern age we are lucky to have access to a host of fantastic gyms with high-spec exercising equipment.
So, with all the options available, joining a gym can be beneficial to keep both you and your mental health in shape.
This article will explore the ways in which joining a gym can help your mental health and promote a balanced lifestyle.
Exercise reduces stress and anxiety
Most importantly, exercise and physical activity is scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety. The two go hand in hand with most mental health conditions and are experienced by everyone at some point in their life. Whether it’s money troubles, or a bad breakup, the gym can help lessen the impact of your daily worries. This is done by endorphins being released and acting as happy hormones, allowing you to feel your best after a workout. These endorphins reduce tension in the body, relieving your mind of stress and stabilising your mood. Just getting even 5 minutes of exercise can have a positive effect on your mental health and you can get this by joining a gym.
Exercise can also provide a sense of physical relief due to the energy that is exerted in the process. Emotions such as anger can be channelled into exercise, and release the built up stress that you have inside.
So, go let out those stresses and channel them on the elliptical.
It can help to improve sleep
Nowadays, we don’t get enough sleep. We are all guilty of mindlessly scrolling through Tik Tok till the late a.m, but sleep is more important.
As any health expert will tell you, sleep is imperative to many parts of a balanced life. This includes maintaining good mental health. By exercising, the endorphins that are produced during exercise also contribute to the quality of your sleep overall.
Therefore, the exercise you do at the gym can have a massive impact on your sleep, and the quality of it. Naturally, you are using your energy so will have a bigger need to recharge at the end of the day. Your body will be longing for sleep after a good gym session.
More technically, exercise decreases the likelihood of excessive weight gain, which has been linked to poor sleep quality. Exercise and sleep really do go hand in hand, which is why joining a gym can boost your energy and mental health.
There is no better time to go than now!
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has come and (hopefully) gone, the hygiene of gyms has massively improved. The shared equipment, sweat and other germs can make gyms seem like pretty grim places. However, COVID opened our eyes to our unhygienic ways and now the practices in the gym focus a lot more on being sanitary.
As well as the hygiene, attitudes towards gym-goers have vastly improved over recent years. Our attitudes towards inclusivity have come out of the stone age. People have become more accepting of all bodies being welcome in the gym, as well as all genders and ages.
This makes a lot of people more inclined to go. Gyms have introduced cleaning systems using sanitiser and couch rolls, to ensure that germs do not spread between equipment users. The gym is now a safer, more pleasant environment which makes it a lot more of an enjoyable experience. This contributes to better mental health overall when using the gym.
The gym provides a sense of community
The sense of belonging is not often discussed as a major perk of joining a gym; but I think it is one of the best for improving mental health.
The use of communal spaces for exercises creates a community-like feel to gyms, which can help boost your mental health. Many people attend gyms daily and you will always find a fellow work-out buddy somewhere in your gym. This is specifically beneficial to those suffering with feelings of loneliness, as it provides social interaction in the gym environment. Most of the time, gym-goers are more than happy to have a natter. Whether it’s about how to use the rowing machine, or about your annoying colleague who won’t shut up, the gym is a great place to make friends and socialise.
Studies have shown that social interaction plays a massive role in maintaining good mental health. Loneliness can often augment depression or anxiety, meaning adequate social interaction is of crucial importance to bettering mental health.
Regular exercise improves brain health
Regular exercise is also important for good brain health. Exercising stimulates the brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in important cortical areas of the brain. This means that exercise encourages more focus, motivation and can even increase productivity. This is backed up by years of medical research which helped to prove the link between brain power and exercise; the two certainly correlate.
Brain health can affect mental wellbeing as it contributes majorly to focus and motivation as I’ve mentioned. One of the main symptoms of depression is a complete loss of motivation, making your brain health an important tool in fixing your mental health.
Jorge is a health blog author who has been writing about nutrition, fitness and healthy living for over 10 years. He also loves to run, hike and bike with her wife.
