Sports psychology was always a solid part of the sport and exercise science degree that I completed. When starting it, I thought it would be about peak physiological performance, but I will always remember one of our first lab sessions and how relevant this was for everyone.

Without a prompt or a reason why, we had to complete and online questionnaire, (Poms Questionnaire) which was measuring our mood. Then we got split into teams, and each team has someone either read a book, listen to relaxation music, for for 10-minute walk or complete high intensity interval training.

We then completed the survey again, with the questions in a different order.

I don’t fully remember the results, but what I do remember is across the whole class, walking had biggest impact on mood. Followed by high intensity. These results astounded me as I hadn’t really been exposed to the body brain connection before.

So, what’s the science here?

There are multiple reasons why exercise no can improve mood and be a good treatment for anxiety and depression.

Hormones and Pathways

Our body is a big collection of chemicals, being released by different stimuli, which then promote the body to react in a specific way. Exercise had a big effect on our hormones. Despite an increase in cortisol whilst we train, exercise and movement can regulate this stress hormone whilst also releasing, boosting increasing the production of serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. This combination promotes positive moods and decreases our stress hormones.

Exercise also has a direct affect on our brain and neural pathways. Our brain body connection when we exercise constantly requires be re-layering of neural pathways (thing a path in the woods, constantly getting walked on, making the path easier to walk on!). This connection and re-layering, combined with the physical stress and increased blood flow due to exercise can help stimulate BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This protein is crucial for neuroplasticity (your brain’s ability to adapt) and is highly associated with good cognitive function, mood regulation and brain health.

Sleep

Sleep has a massive impact on our mental health, however, exercise can also contribute to good sleep. Exercise stimulates stress, which the body has to recover from, which can promote sleep. Also, our body’s natural body clock and body temperature are synchronised by exercise helping improve our sleep.

Body confidence

A lot of our mental health can come down to our body confidence and how we see ourselves. We see it with body image diseases such as anorexia. Therefore, it is no doubt the effect our body image has in our happiness.

Exercise can help improve body image, from increased muscle mass to weight loss. Changes in appearance can improve mood and confidence and sometimes more social interaction.

This confidence doesn’t always have to come from appearance – the sense of accomplishment has a boosting effect on our mental health as well. Little improvements e.g. increasing weights at the gym, walking a bit further or hitting a personal best in any endeavour has a boosting effect.

So where to from here?

If you don’t currently exercise, or do a little, you’ll know from the start of this blog that as little as a 10-minute walk is great for your mental health. Start there.

As with any exercise program, you do want to try and get almost modalities in to gain the extra benefits – so once you have the confidence and habits, try some resistance training and high intensity.