Physical Activity fights Stress

As I have mentioned in my past blogs, physical inactivity awareness has become a world-stage concern. There are many ways to improve one’s physical ability and exercising habits but the easiest way would be start exercising. Being physical active does not only benefits our body such as building muscle, burning fat, or keeping fit, but in fact, it affects our mental health. A lot of people may not believe that these two factors are correlated since they do not see any relationship in between exercising and mental health, but when a person is being physical active, his/her mental state will be more positive.

This can be easily proven by those adults who are having the habit of exercising. They tend to be happier, and more successful in life. That is because exercising can reduce people’s stresses which directly affect their performance in work or other activities. Many studies have conducted to support the saying of the human body releases hormones such as endorphins (happy hormone) in our blood stream to promote wellbeing when exercising. On the other hand, teens today are not doing as well as the adults. A lot of teenagers are facing a huge stress from their studies but since they are not being physically active, they could not reduce their stresses in proper ways. This has led to many problems in deed. One of the biggest factors would be teens’ behaviors is becoming fatigue. The University Health Center suggests that students who exercise have increased ability to concentrate and are more energized. Furthermore, those who are physically inactive stand a higher chance to be in bad mood or even in depression which will again directly affect their academic performances. Recently, a cross sectional study was conducted by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London that resulted in 32% of the sample group are only doing one or none of the sessions required to stay physically active. Even if the study shows that health “benefits were observed at“minimal level of at least 20 minutes a week of any physical activity”” Canadian teenagers should be required to do at least 60 minutes of exercise per week. Therefore, stress is one thing that we have to deal with in our lives, reducing it with exercising would be one of the best way to handle it.

Exercising comes with many benefits. Especially for teens today, they need to become more physically active. Exercise will improve their performances in school since their stresses from studies would be reduced. Also, by participating in physical activities with friends or family can generate social bonding, so teens are not likely to suicide or have chronic mental illnesses. According to Health Canada, frequent exercise behavior is important when it comes to healthy growth and development. Teenagers should be aware of active living lifestyle by incorporating exercise in their everyday life.

References:

Elizabeth Scott, M. (2011, April 25). What Types of Stress Reduction Exercise Are Most Effective? Retrieved July 11, 2011, from About.com:http://stress.about.com/od/programsandpractices/f/exercise.htm

Georgia, U. o. (n.d.). Managing Stress: A Guide for College Students. Retrieved July 11, 2011 , from The Universty Health Center:http://www.uhs.uga.edu/stress/exercise.html

Physical activity reduces stress . (2008, April 10). Retrieved July 11, 2011, from NHS health news:http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/04April/Pages/Physicalactivityreducesstress.aspx

Why Is Physical Activity Good For Stress Anxiety Management? (n.d.). Retrieved July 11, 2011, from Learn and Treat Anxiety: http://learnandtreatanxiety.com/stress-anxiety-management/