After a stressful day at work, straight to the gym or to the basketball court: for many, this is the balance to daily stress. The workout not only keeps our body fit and active but also the mind. Below, we have put together six reasons why exercise makes you happy.
6 Reasons Why Physical Exercise Makes You A Happier Person
Release Of Dopamine
The body releases a wide variety of hormones during our sporting activity, from the happiness hormone dopamine to serotonin and endorphins. Adrenaline is released during sport and ensures that our body gets used to the stress. Dopamine is also released during activity and makes us more alert, more concentrated and more focused, drives us to peak performance and ensures that we have fun in sport. The more we exercise, the more dopamine is released. Serotonin levels increase after exercise. Serotonin is primarily known as a feel-good hormone, through the release we achieve a feeling of inner satisfaction. With regular training, the concentration of dopamine and serotonin increase permanently, so that concentration, happiness and satisfaction increase sustainably.
Distraction From Daily Stress
Do you go swimming regularly or run a few kilometers a day? Then you must have noticed that during this time you have not dealt with the things that are otherwise on your mind or cause stress. Because with the same sequence of movements you let go of everyday life and fall into a kind of meditation. Although this does not solve problems by itself, it does ensure that we can switch off at short notice. Running or swimming, therefore, means: “Switch-off guarantee” to 100%. You will feel more balanced and thus combine sport with happiness and satisfaction.
Exercise Helps Reduce Anxiety And Depression
You’ve probably heard that exercise increases endorphin, but it also increases many more brain chemicals that make you feel happy. When you exercise, it increases endorphins, dopamine, adrenaline, and endocannabinoid – these are all brain chemicals associated with feeling happy, feeling confident, feeling capable, feeling less anxiety and stress and even less physical pain. Exercise is also shown to help some people with depression, which experts say could be to due to an increase in nerve cell growth in the brain that happens when you exercise.
Better Sleep
When you sleep, your body temperature drops, and this drop in temperature helps you sleep. When you exercise for 20-30 minutes, five to six hours before bedtime, your body temp will then drop lower than it would if you did not exercise. This results in better sleep!
Social Setting
Apart from fitness in your own four walls or jogging, sporting activities usually have something to do with social interaction, whether in the gym or on the football field. If you use the evening for a workout, you always get into conversation, whether with acquaintances, friends or neighbors. So you don’t just do sports, you can also exchange ideas. In addition, team sports in particular promote fair social interaction with our fellow human beings.
Healthy Aging
Exercise helps with maintaining a healthy weight. As you age, this becomes harder and harder to do without exercise. It also helps maintain mobility in your spine. When your spine is happy, your body can move properly. Having muscles that are able to react to your environment (think snow, ice, hills, heat, cold, etc.) makes life a lot easier as we age.
