Exercise is a tool to manage anxiety
One of the best tools to manage anxiety is exercise.
I’m sold on exercise. One reason why I choose a particular workout on a given day is how it’s going to impact my mood. Chronic adaptations are why most of us start to exercise.
Chronic adaptions from exercise
Chronic adaptations are what happen after a period of training like losing weight, getting stronger and adding muscle.
These drove my early programming for my own personal fitness and they are still important.
Chronic adaptions are long term changes that happen because of regular exercise.
Acute responses to exercise
Equally important is what are called acute responses.
Acute responses are how our body responds to exercise during and immediately after exercise.
One of the acute responses that I find extremely rewarding after exercise is anxiety reduction and mood improvement.
I often tell myself that I don’t want to make any decisions or respond to someone until I’ve exercised. I’m being serious!
I explain why exercise is such a fantastic way to reduce anxiety and improve mood in this article. I also discuss the best ways to exercise to reduce anxiety.
Exercising too much won't reduce anxiety
Like with anything, too much of a good thing is no longer good. If we overdo exercise, anxiety will not be lowered. Too much exercise might even increase it.
That is easy to avoid, though. I don't want this to be a reason for you not to exercise. The benefits far outweigh the potential risk of anxiety elevation. That only happens when you take exercise too far.
Mental and physical symptoms of anxiety
We all know what anxiety feels like. Anxiety can be cognitive which shows itself in the form of worry and obsessive fear.
Anxiety can be physical which shows itself in the form of a racing heart, hot flashes, jitters, insomnia and many more symptoms.
Anxiety sucks. It can be treated. It can be made way better. Exercise is a great tool to reduce anxiety.
Exercise can reduce anxiety, but it isn't a replacement for other tools
Exercise is a great tool for managing anxiety. It helps me. There are many ways that exercise improves mental health.
It’s not a replacement for other tools that may be working for you.
The study found that all three worked well. The level at which they worked depended on the level of anxiety.
The conclusion of the study showed that when combined, all three methods are a terrific way to manage anxiety.
Anxiety can get extreme at times. It wouldn't be professional to state that exercise can take all of your anxiety away and that you won’t need your other tools. That’s not what the research states.
Anxiety has many faces. The ultimate treatment should come down to you and your health professional.
My bet is that exercise can help you more than you realize.
Exercise improves anxiety through hormonal pathways
One of the main ways that exercise helps with anxiety is because it changes the hormones flowing through the bloodstream.
The hormonal response during anxiety
We go into fight or flight mode when we're anxious. This is critical. It is built into our DNA.
The body produces adrenaline, cortisol, and nor-epinephrine when it perceives stress. These hormones help the body react by getting our attention, speeding up the heart rate and increasing blood pressure.
That is their job. If you are about to cross the street and a car is speeding and doesn’t see you, this reaction by your body can prevent you from getting run over.
The problem with anxiety is that we are alerted about danger when we don’t need to be. When we are stressed about something - whether it is real or mental - our body produces those hormones. Those hormones make us even more alert and produce the negative effects of anxiety.
When we don’t have a physical reason to be alert, meaning that we should be resting, those feelings will make us feel anxious.
Why do we have an increased heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure when we're not in danger?
That is anxiety.
You are thinking, most likely, about perceived threats. Your body is reacting to these thoughts.
This is an automatic response and comes from the sympathetic nervous system. It is designed to make you alert.
The hormonal effects of exercise counteract the hormonal effects of anxiety
When we exercise, our body produces good hormones that have the opposite effect on us compared to the stress hormones.
Our body secretes dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins when we exercise. These are the happy hormones.
Physical movement causes the secretion of these hormones. They lower anxiety and improve mood.
These hormones are part of the parasympathetic nervous system. Their job is to improve mood, help us relax and induce a state of recovery.
Exercise also releases adrenaline
When we exercise our body will produce stress hormones like adrenaline as well.
You need that to get going. When you are getting ready to do a big bench press or big lift in the gym, your adrenaline increases to help you do the lift. This is critical.
The difference is that there is a real threat in front of you as your body sees it - a lift.
It is therefore normal to have this adrenaline rush during exercise. When it’s accompanied by the appropriate physical activity, the anxious feeling is not there.
Feelings of anxiety happen when the stress hormones are elevated but there is no physical activity to balance it out.
We typically don’t perceive this influx of adrenaline as anxiety during exercise because it is normal. We expect to feel hyped and alert during a workout.
A lot of anxiety is just that - preparation without a physical outlet.
What makes exercise so great is that these happy hormones are flowing at the same time.
We may feel an exercise high (endorphin buzz) and feel a sense of calm afterwards. This is because our body releases more dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins.
You don't get these great hormones when you are anxious without exercise.
Exercise is a positive form of stress
Exercise is a stress. It’s called a eustress. This means positive stress. Eustress is the opposite of distress.
The body still sees all stress as stress.
There is distress, which is negative, like getting a speeding ticket or failing a quiz. There is eustress like working out or getting married. It’s positive, but it’s still stress.
We must keep our stress in check - no matter if it’s good or bad - so that we don’t get too stressed out and create more anxiety. All stress must be balanced out with periods of rest and relaxation.
Don't exercise too much
If you overdo exercise (what we in the exercise science world call overtraining) you can upset your hormonal system and raise anxiety.
Exercise does create cortisol (stress hormone) when we do too much of it - typically when done at a very high intensity.
You can avoid this, though. You just need to know what works.
Cortisol is released more when you go too hard or too long. Too hard of an intensity is the usual culprit but too long can be a bad stress too. We are more likely to get too much cortisol from exercise when we combine the two.
This usually happens during cardio-respiratory exercise. This is more common in distance runners and/or triathletes.
This group often trains in what we call 'no-man’s land'. It is exercise at an intensity that isn't intense enough to be considered intervals (bursts of high intensity), but not easy enough to be fat burning.
They do this because they feel comfortable. They have actually gotten used to feeling uncomfortable.
There isn't an exact intensity for this kind of stressful exercise but most experts think that long cardio sessions should be done at an intensity of 70% (70% of your maximum output) or below. Most competitive endurance athletes do this at 85% or above. This will release more cortisol and create anxiety down the road.
We can do this in the gym as well. When we exercise to failure while doing high reps, our body will produce lactate. With lactate comes cortisol.
Lactate is good. It means that we’re doing what we should be doing. We say at my gym all the time, "If it’s burning, it’s working”.
If every set that you do is taken to maximal intensity, going to failure and beyond, you may be setting yourself up for anxiety.
You are setting yourself up for overtraining. Learn to find that balance. Not every set needs to be all out. Track your body and use high intensity techniques minimally.
One way that we can control this with exercise is by using periodization.
Periodization means to have weeks of lower intensity (but more volume) and weeks of higher intensity (but less volume). That way, you exercise regularly and prevent the risk of exercising too much or too hard.
This helps us from getting overtrained, which is a state of physical stress.
Rob’s Cardio-respiratory Exercise Plan to Lower Anxiety
☺ Pick an activity that you enjoy. If you don’t like any that much, then don’t pick one that you can’t stand.
☺ Try to be outdoors. Sensory input is good for anxiety. Boredom is not good. Get into nature.
☺ If you can, choose a more complex task. The more you need to think about the movement the more your mind will not be thinking about mental stresses.
☺ Do mostly moderate intensity which is 70% and below.
☺ Do moderate volume. Shoot for 30-45 minutes. Remember that too long can be anxiety producing as well - especially if the intensity is up.
☺ Keep higher intensity days to no more than two days per week and keep the duration to 20 minutes or under.
☺ Be consistent.
☺ Switch it up.
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Rob’s Strength Training Exercise Plan to Lower Anxiety
☺ Do a moderate rep range of 6-12 reps.
☺ Do exercises that you enjoy.
☺ Do complex exercises that force your brain to learn a new movement.
☺ Don’t go to muscular failure on too many sets. Stop 1-2 reps short of failure on most sets.
☺ Use high intensity techniques sparingly. Challenge yourself but too much of a good thing is no longer good!
☺ Focus, Focus, Focus. Use exercise as a form of meditation. Focus on how the muscles feel. Visualize how you want them to look. If a worry thought comes to mind, bring focus back to the muscles and the visualization.
☺ Be consistent.
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This doesn’t mean there aren’t days that you can push hard in the gym or push hard doing cardio.
You can let it rip on hard days if you follow a good periodized plan where you are building in days to go harder and days to go easier.
Just move. Any form of exercise that you do and enjoy will help to lower anxiety naturally.
I laid out the plan for structured cardio and strength training but if you enjoy yoga or active sports, do that instead.
Moving is what your body craves. When you move, your body listens to the command of Mother Nature and releases happy hormones.
Exercise is great for everything. I love to move, and it makes me feel good.
Exercise can be a wonderful way to manage your stress and anxiety.
I hope that these tips help you to manage the anxiety that you may have.
Remember that moderate exercise is so good for so many things.
We don’t have to overdo exercise to get results. If we are consistent and make exercise a part of our daily lives, we will feel and be so much better.
This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.
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