Reducing stress - part 2 - exercise

A few posts ago I said that proper nutrition lessened stress...

Now - exercise.

Exercise is good for any number of reasons. If work hard enough you actually create a "good" feeling. Often when I am in the locker room after exercising - many of us say how good we feel after working out but how awful we felt during [or before] that exercise. It's that "good" feeling that helps you relax.

Exercise also helps you stay lean and keeps pounds from accumulating - and for anyone who has ever had an "extra" weight issue- that alone can make you feel stressed.

Mental health is important to feeling less stressed and exercising helps one's mental health - so the more you work out the better you feel about you - and the better you feel about you - the less stress you fele..

It is cyclical - and it works for the bad as well as the good. No exercise leads to feeling less happy about one's self and that negative feeling creates the lack of desire to exercise, etc.

I'll be the first to tell you that even though I am a mental health expert and one into healthy aging , eating well and exercise - I know that when I am busy or feeling stressed - the fist thing I want to drop is my exercising!

So at those times I literally have to force myself to get out the door and go to class - remembering how good I will feel a few hours later... I know it's hard - you need to find at least one form of exercise that you love - so that you will at least do that a few times a week.

I know I hate weight machines and will never go to the club "just" to work out. But I love the cycling classes and playing squash and will get there for those - and since I am already there - I use some of the machines...

Works for me - everyone needs to find their own way of making sure they exercise : - )