It’s not just about how it makes you look. It is also about how it makes you feel. Mentally and physically. Exercise that is. In a world where our lives are expressed by numerous images it is easy forget that exercise has far more to offer than six packs, peachy glutes and ripped arms. How someone is feeling, how they are coping with life becomes largely invisible. Not for nothing is exercise considered an effective but under-utilised antidepressant. The evidence is overwhelming. It is good for our mental health. 

I have never suffered from depression but I do have an inclination towards anxiety. Inherited from my father who spent a lifetime on medication and had two psychiatric hospital admissions during his life. Once in his early forties and again in his late sixties. No doubt his mental health was largely the result of the abuse he suffered as a child but in his 30s he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The diagnosis was wrong but he lived the rest of his life in fear of hearing the same words spoken again. Anxiety consumed his life. It was often a physical pain. And one difficult to comprehend unless it hits you personally.

I glimpsed it a few years ago when I was bullied at work. I had been bullied at school but believed that the experience had toughened me up. It would never happen again. But three decades later it did. And it did affect me mentally. There were days when I would wake up feeling physically ill. I know now this was due to the flood of cortisol that would flood my body as I woke to a new day. Usually the feeling would disappear within minutes but occasionally it would last for hours. But whilst many people knew that I was being bullied I never told anyone about how it was affecting me. And at the time exercise was not part of my life. I wonder if I would have coped differently if it had been.

Move on a few years to being diagnosed with a heart condition. There is a high incidence of depression and anxiety in heart patients. And a relationship the other way. Poor mental health can cause heart disease. But my experience was very different. The diagnosis shocked me. Waiting for open heart surgery was scary. And recovery was at times frustrating. But I never felt depressed or unduly anxious. It was if my body decided that I had something huge to get over and it couldn’t be wasting time on the trivial stuff that I usually concerned myself with. And slowly getting back to exercise was hugely therapeutic in every way. 

Those scary days are now long gone but I occasionally get feelings of anxiety but nothing that a good workout can’t fix. And if that sounds flippant I make no apology. I am supported by a lot of evidence. Exercise increases the feel good hormones that improves our mood. It decreases stress and the damage caused by stress. And as we become fitter our self esteem increases. You can also make friends. This becomes increasingly important as we get older and our social circle shrinks.
Whilst it is true that no one has ever said ‘I really regret that workout’ finding the enthusiasm to get your trainers on and out of the front door can be a challenge in itself. Particularly if you are feeling down. But it becomes a self perpetuating circle. You are feeling low and tired. So you don’t exercise. The lack of exercise makes you feel even lower. The cycle has to be broken.

It may just be something simple as identifying the best time to get out of the door. I usually train in the evening but on a cold, dark evening leaving the sofa is the last thing I want to do. But I do it. I would much rather train in the morning but work tends to get in the way. 

Exercise is not just for the summer body. It improves our life mentally, emotionally and socially. Where are your trainers?