Let Exercise Soothe Your Stress Addiction
Most people know that exercise offers plenty of physical health benefits. But few realize it’s also something you can use to soothe your stress. The good news is that almost any kind of exercise can be used for this purpose.
While you might initially dread getting into an exercise routine right off the bat, you’ll soon come to realize that when you start moving your body, you feel better – and it’s not just because you’re proud of yourself – there’s a chemical component to your improved mood.
Cortisol Versus Endorphins
When you get stressed, your body releases cortisol. This is your stress hormone and once it’s released, it works in the body to give you a boost of glucose and to enhance your fight-or-flight reaction.
Anyone who has a lot of stress can develop a stress addiction. This means that your body has become conditioned to need the heightened emotions and the adrenaline rush produced by the stress.
You feel that craving subconsciously because stress gives you a certain emotional high. This need can reach a point where you feel like you just have to have it in order to function – and you may even enjoy how it makes you feel if the alternative is pure lethargy and apathy.
But a constant stream of cortisol can damage your health. By turning to exercise, your body will get larger doses of endorphins, which also create a high, but one that’s positive for your body and mind.
You’ll end up feeling good mentally and physically once you get a boost of endorphins. Once you exercise, your self-esteem rises and you feel less anxiety. Plus, exercise can also help combat the sadness that occurs when you’re coming off of a stress addiction.
Not only that, but exercise can also help you lose the desire for the stress high because endorphins act along the same reward pathway that the cortisol does. You’ll gain relief without the side effects that could be harmful for your health.
Endorphins can eliminate the emotions that are tied to stress – such as anger or irritability. It also eliminates the other side effects of a stressed life, like insomnia, overeating or a poor appetite.
They can help clear the mind and change the way you view life. You can go from a negative perspective to having one that’s more positive. Using exercise can act as a tool to fill the void in your life.
This can fill the vacuum that you tried to fill with a stress high, but it’s more effective. When you exercise and endorphins are produced, the amount of cortisol that you have in your body is diminished.
Plus, the release of endorphins do more than just make you have a happier mood. Because they’re your body’s own painkillers, you feel great physically and at the same time, your mental well-being improves.
You might think that you just don’t have time to add exercise to your life, which is one of the reasons that you’ve been so stressed. But exercising to beat a stress addiction isn’t something that has to take up a lot of your time because there’s no set time or particular exercise that you have to adhere to.
It Doesn’t Take Much to Make a Big Difference
You might be reluctant to try exercising to help with your stress because you believe you need a lot of time, but that’s not true. Don’t let that mistaken belief hold you back from the relief that you deserve.
There’s no time set in stone that you have to follow when it comes to exercise. You do have the time – even small increments of 5 minutes here and there – and what you need to focus on is that exercise doesn’t have to be a gym session.
It doesn’t even have to be a set workout routine at home. Exercise means that you’re choosing to be more active for a certain amount of time. Medical experts say that it’s best to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.
But that doesn’t mean that you have to get your exercise all done within that time frame.
You can break up your minutes to suit your schedule. It’s better for stress relief to break that time down than to skip it altogether.
Plus, regular exercise is the key to winning against a stress addiction. Take your daily 30 minutes of recommended exercise and divide it by two. You can turn it into two 15 minute sessions of exercise if you need to.
Or, you can break it down even more and split the 30 minutes into three 10 minute sessions. If you think that you’re so busy that you can’t stop your daily routine at home or at work to break for exercise, then you can do while you’re still performing other tasks.
You can gain some time by getting up 15 minutes sooner than you normally would. Even if all you do is speed walk while you’re getting your stuff ready to head out the door, that activity still counts toward exercise.
You can jog in place while you’re waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. If you live close enough to work, you can walk or bike to work rather than taking your car. While you’re at work, choose to do as many tasks as you can while you’re standing up and move around while you’re doing it.
Make sure that you’re moving for at least 10 minutes at a time. You’ll feel better and this will help to ease stress. When it’s time for you to go to lunch, have a walking lunch. Eat while you go for a stroll outside.
Later, when you’re at home, you can exercise while you’re making something to eat. You can do step-ups, lunges, squats, and more. You can play a fitness game on your console, take the dog for a walk, or do some yard work.
All of it counts towards your fitness minute increments. Exercise helps you to break free from stress even if all you can do is a few minutes a day. Don’t try to fit some gold standard. Just do the best that you can and you’ll notice that your stress level has gone down.
Cardio Stress Busters
There are exercises known as cardio stress busters. These get your endorphins flowing and relieve stress quickly. Walking is one of these exercises. When you walk, it eases tension and boosts your mood.
Plus, if you walk outside, you get the benefit of being in nature, which has a way of easing away the pressures of life. Walking is a great way to lessen cortisol and eliminate anxiety and depression.
You can walk anywhere at any time. Plus, you can walk on your own, or in a group. But you can also do it as part of a family activity, which is great for people who don’t have a lot of time for exercise.
This way, relieving your stress addiction doesn’t take away moments from your loved ones. Jogging is another great stress buster. When you jog, it clears the mind, enhances cognitive skills, and you get a boost of feel-good chemicals.
Plus, it stabilizes your mood and can eliminate anxiety. This type of exercise can help you focus better and boosts self-control, which can work to break the bonds of a stress addiction.
Running is a form of exercise that gives you stress relief. It’s so effective that there’s even a term for it known as a “runner’s high.” This high occurs because being physically active naturally lowers stress, while at the same time improves your mood.
Just like with other exercises, running causes the brain to produce endorphins and these hormones give an opioid type sensation to the person running. But running also alleviates negativity and can restore a positive outlook.
Some studies have found that running creates the same effect in the body that taking an antidepressant does. High-intensity interval training, known as HIIT, can do a lot for the body.
Besides improving cardiac health, and lowering anxiety, it’s known to break a stress addiction, too. It’s beneficial to both men and women and studies have revealed that the more intense an exercise is, the quicker it reduces stress and keeps it soothed longer.
Plus, this type of exercise boosts overall happiness in life. You can rest easy about trying to do long periods of exercise, because even a few minutes of HIIT gives you an equal amount of stress relief that you’d find from exercising for hours.
Cycling is a cardio stress buster and is known for lowering cortisol that’s produced due to stress. This exercise is known as an anti-anxiety measure. It also boosts your production of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which works to make you feel happier.
Dance cardio is an exercise that can enhance your physical and mental well-being. It gives you energy, makes your brain produce endorphins, which alleviate stress – plus it works to make you sleep well when it’s time for bed.
Active Fun – a Two-Fer Stress Buster
If you remember back to when you were a kid or a teenager, you’d spend hours doing physical stuff that was just fun. You might have had some responsibilities, but you always made time to do the things that you enjoyed doing.
It’s time to get back to that now that you’re an adult because when you engage in some type of active fun, you enjoy a two-fold benefit. Not only are you enjoying yourself, but you’re always getting some much-needed stress relief.
Plain old dancing – even if it’s not for exercise – can bring some fun into your day and ease a stress addiction. You can freestyle dance, practice something contemporary, or try out a professional dancing routine like the salsa, ballroom dancing, or jazz.
Dancing helps calm anxiety and boosts endorphins. Skating is something that a lot of people grew up doing. Don’t let your busy lifestyle rob you of this simple, yet fun activity. When you skate, this activity gives you a full-body workout.
It improves strength in your legs, works your core muscles, and helps you become more limber. Plus, it’s a good cardio workout. But while you’re getting exercise benefits, you’re also gaining in the area of mental health, because skating can break the addiction of stress.
It gives you something else to focus on and you get the same kind of adrenaline boost that you get with stress – only this kind is good for you. Doing things you used to do as a kid, like jumping on the trampoline, can release endorphins.
You get to forget about all the stuff that’s troubling you and just jump. You get to bounce up and down, do flips, and just enjoy your time. Being active on a trampoline is something that also gives you a full-body workout.
You’ll strengthen your leg muscles as well as your abdomen. Plus, you’ll also develop better balance, flexibility, and stamina. A trampoline workout eases stress and anxiety because it causes you to focus while you’re having fun.
Doing the same moves over and over again is calming. You can also start jumping rope. This exercise helps with your coordination and flexibility. It’s an easy exercise that you can do anywhere and it’s considered cardio.
Plus, you’ll lose weight and tone up, thanks to the muscles that this activity works out.
You’ll work out your legs as well as your upper body. You’ll strengthen your hamstrings, biceps and more.
It doesn’t take long to feel great when you play around with jumping rope. Even just ten minutes can make a difference in how you feel. Because jumping rope is considered to be an aerobic exercise, it’s good for the heart.
But more than that, it’s one of the best things to use for easing stress. It’s known to dissipate anxiety and tension caused by stress. Plus, it soothes nerves, gives you an endorphin release and more confidence. In addition to that, it helps you sleep better.
Calming Exercise to Defeat Stress
Not every exercise will need to be high intensity or even demanding at all for you to find relief from stress when you use it. There are gentler, calming exercises that you can try instead.
One of these is yoga. This is a practice that’s been around for thousands of years. It works to heal and strengthen your mental health as well as your physical body. Users rely on various poses as well as breathing techniques to find calmness.
Because it’s not an intense workout, it can have a stronger focus on meditation and achieving an inner peace that can lessen stress. While it might not seem like it’s as good of a workout as other forms of exercise, it is.
That’s because yoga is an easier method of strength training. Once you’ve been practicing it consistently, you will notice a difference in your muscles and the way you’re able to carry yourself.
You’ll also have greater stamina and develop a more flexible body. Using yoga is something that can ease tension in the body because it’s meant to induce relaxation. Plus, it soothes your emotions while it boosts your ability to concentrate.
It’s something that can be used by anyone, regardless of whether or not you’re new to exercising. There are easier forms of yoga, but there are some like ashtanga, that can be a little more involved physically.
It depends on what you choose. Though it has its roots in martial arts, Tai Chi is a calming exercise that works great to give you freedom from stress. This exercise is very gentle on the body and uses slow, flowing motions to take users from one movement to the next.
The strength of this exercise is found in its link between the mind and the body while remaining in the present. This exercise is appropriate for anyone to use. Because it’s meditative in nature and relies on breathing with the movements, it eases physical and mental tension.
Using this will help you gain energy by allowing the qi to flow the way it should within your body. Another calming exercise to defeat stress is qigong. Though is does have some crossover with tai chi, it is different.
This is also a slow, easy movement exercise that can boost calmness and alleviate symptoms of stress. The gist of the exercise is to pay attention to the breathing, harness energy, and bring that into focus to help rid your body of stress. You’ll find this exercise can also be used for meditation that can bring inward peace.
There are many different ways you can alleviate stress in life. Everyone is different in how they choose to approach it. Some may want to be prescribed medication. Others might want to solely focus on using meditative approaches.
There are people who find solace and comfort in motivational and inspirational readings. But using exercise is a tool that gives you added benefits. While lessening your stress burden, it’s contributing to your overall physical health.
You’ll be improving your heart health, weight, and mind as you embark on a regimen of staving off stress on a daily basis. Make sure you try different strategies to see what works best for your mental outlook and don’t be afraid to combine methods or switch things up whenever you need to.
Tai chi 5 minutes videos.