Why is physical activity good for your brain?

There is something magical about it but it's not quite literally!

Firstly, there are so many benefits of exercise, sports & physical activity on your brain. But I'd like to focus on the mental & mood aspects. Let's look at the bigger picture - physical activity primarily helps with the following:

1. Elevated Mood

2. Reduced Stress & Anxiety

3. Improved Cognitive Skills & Abilities

4. Better Sleep

5. Increased Recovery

I am going to skip past all the science stuff and bring your attention to why physical activity helps fight against stress, anxiety & depression - as well as helping you if you have ADHD, autism or something similar regarding neurodiversity...

HERE'S THE MAGIC - physical activity is hyperfocus for the body!!! WHATEVER THE BODY DOES, THE MIND MUST FOLLOW.

When you are passionate about an activity or sport, taking part does something wonderfully creative to your brain - it aligns itself for cohesion. What do I mean by that?

Simply put, the physical activity requires full access to mind and body in order to perform optimally therefore, the brain automatically shuts down certain aspects of itself that will get in the way such as your current state of mind & mood.

Let's say we use sex as an example...

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION NOW!

When physical lust and sexual attraction is taking place, different hormones are released and your mind & body are flooded with a temporary state of ecstasy. Because you are fully engaged to begin with, you immediately feel differently and you have a different mental focus of attention.

Whether this lasts or not is none of my business but what is interesting to me is that the concept of this is the same as what happens when you take part in a physical activity - it's because it's movement based.

Your body is the leader of the activity, your mental thoughts and your emotional state reposition themselves to serve your body. It's one of a few times that stress, anxiety & depression are naturally shut down. What's magic about it is passion.

Whatever you are passionate about, your attention flows towards. When you perform exercises or sports that require such mental effort, the cortisol that was being produced is temporarily replaced by dopamine and serotonin. So we quite figuratively go from being punished to being rewarded - all of which takes place within from a shift in our activities.

• It's also important to point out that dopamine & serotonin are different

• both are positive hormones but dopamine (pleasure) is an addictive hormone - meaning you always crave more

• serotonin (happiness) is more associated with contentment - meaning that once you have enough, you can relax

Here's something interesting for you! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SQ4hhoBKJus?feature=share

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & BREATHING

Most of you will be familiar with meditation and breathing exercises. Whilst there are people who love this there are more people who find the whole notion of breathing exercises a joke!

However, there is truth in the practice of breathing exercises and they really do put the mind & body in different states - it depends on the technique used - meaning how deep you breathe, hold long you hold it, the duration of exercise, whether you breathe fast or slow on the inhale or exhale etc.

MY POINT - physical exercise is a form of distracted breathing techniques. After each burst of intense running or movement, we have to breathe differently to calm our heart rate. Exercise is a prolonged breathing exercise and whilst it's not a meditative and relaxed technique, it absolutely benefits our brains.

In contrast to meditation, which aims to slow down our thoughts and breathing, physical exercise increases our mental abilities and breathing. In meditation we reach a state of relaxation and peace very early on, in fact the whole exercise is meant to be soothing and stress free.

Exercise, sports and activities activate you to top gear and the relaxation and peace comes hours after. So there are relaxing benefits to high intensity exercise but the effects occur hours after the activities - hence feeling shattered but content and pleased with yourself which can lead to better and improved sleep.

WHY TELL YOU THIS???

I am a big believer in small or large group exercise. In particular I love football so I'll use that as an example. In my football sessions I quite often see people turn up in a bad mood - bitching and moaning about work & life or whatever...then I get them moving which requires the mental & emotional mind to basically shut the fcuk up!

Apologies for the language but the simplicity is right there. When we're in a group or team, that social aspect has a huge significance opposed to solitary workouts. Not that I'm saying one is better than the other but just that the social distraction of other people cuts out the inner voice so you can actually hear someone else's.

MAGIC POINT 2 - our inner voices are constantly on the bla bla bla so surrounding yourself with actual real life people shuts that inner voice up - albeit temporarily.

Physical activities are a positive distraction to our mental & emotional stress. No they won't instantly solve your problem in one session or stop you from going back to the stress afterwards but it will give you some time off. However, with consistency, your mood elevates more frequently and basic science is that you more you exercise your body, the more dopamine and endorphins you have in your system - as a result, you feel happier, healthier and more energised.

As I mentioned at the start, your brain will benefit because your mood will increase because your stress, anxiety & depression are not overloading you with negative stress hormones.

As a result of your inner voice taking a break, you become more attuned to other people which makes you feel significant because you have companionship. What typically comes with this is a social banter which helps you feel like part of a community and this is a polar opposite to the depressive isolation of negative self-talk.

Then as your body moves, you are constantly releasing dopamine which rewards you for being active. Even if there are stressful times within the activity, they are counter-balanced by dopamine as they're associated with the activity. We accept the stress as a negative but embrace it positively as we know that it's a package deal.

Because our bodies require mental attention to perform agile movements and to take specific actions within the activity, our mental skills and abilities are heightened as they know that they must become secondary in order to assist the body.

As we achieve and complete the session, we're rewarded afterwards by more endorphins which counter the stress so we basically feel better for longer before returning to a more familiar state.

Then because we've expended so much energy, our muscles go into a state of recovery and therefore relax. You might be shattered and fatigued but it's a good tired - this good tired allows us to sleep better, deeper and for longer which aids in muscle recovery.

Not only do our muscles recover but so does our brain. The pathways we needed to perform and re-built and more brain cells are produced meaning our skills develop and the more we develop, the more automatic our actions become.

I know there's so much more to it but the essentials are relatively simple!

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO GET STARTED?

We're stuck in a rut - we quite often accept that our current life is all that will ever be and therefore we become accustomed to doing nothing because the comfort zone of isolation and procrastination is the evil root of depression.

Depression is a solitary mental illness and the power it has over you dramatically reduces when you are routinely surrounded by other people. Depression wants you to listen to your own thoughts because it has hijacked your thinking into believing you are your current thoughts.

Therefore, depression releases bouts of intense emotional anguish to cement the negative thoughts and our ambitions soon give way as we become physically drained from the mental and emotional onslaught.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

It's time to get charged!

You won't always be in the middle of intense stress, anxiety & depression. If you are, that's really unfortunate and I hope you're seeking help and support from local services.

But what you can do is to start gaining awareness of how your mind and body work. Look into the relationship between mind & body.

If that doesn't interest you then no problem - I'd suggest thinking about what physical activities you like doing and then I'd get in contact with someone that provides this. Do it right now - yes the very second you finish with this!

Even if you go for a brisk walk, maybe get someone to come with you. Don't be afraid to ask for company. Remember that the social element to physical activity has far more positive benefits on you, your brain, your mood and your body, than solitary exercise.

ANYTHING ELSE?

YOU ARE NOT JUST A BRAIN IN A BODY. You're so much more than this. You're a divine magical human being who is capable of amazing accomplishments. Being divine doesn't have to mean you believe in God or spirituality but I'd highly suggest you start looking at yourself in an otherworldly way.

Meaning that as a species, we are truly phenomenal creatures. We have complex systems that keep us alive and we don't even need to do anything except drink plenty of water, eat a healthy balanced diet, get some physical exercise, stay away from over indulgence of sugars, fats, drugs & alcohol.

Therefore, be grateful that you still have breath in your body and tell yourself that no matter how difficult your current hardships are, you are resilient and each difficulty you experience allows for an opportunity of growth and understanding.

GET OUT THERE AND LET'S GET PHYSICAL!

Some of you have a naughty mind...oh well hahaha