How to boost your mood with exercise, no matter how you’re feeling
By now, you probably already know that the benefits of exercise go beyond improving your physical fitness and extend to improving your mental health. Working out releases endorphins, dopamine and serotonin, which all help to lower stress and anxiety while sharpening your focus, memory, and attention. As if that weren't enough, exercise also improves your sleep and increases your energy, and even helps strengthen existing brain connections.
On the other hand, you also know how difficult it can be to actually get up and go to the gym, or go for a run. It's easy to motivate yourself to hit the gym when you're already feeling great, but sometimes we don't have the drive to force ourselves to crank out 10km, do a circuit, or push ourselves with a spin class.
But as much as we are aware of how exercise helps us feel good, there are definitely many evenings when it’s tempting to lounge in bed watching Netflix instead of fitting in a workout. This is often the case when you’re a bit down or stressed.
So for all those times when you're not feeling your best, whether you're anxious, frustrated, restless or sad, there's an exercise that can help turn things around and get you back to feeling yourself again. Here's a handy guide with the ideal exercises to help you fit in a bit of movement every day, no matter how you're feeling.
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