How to Control Anxiety by Jogging

Exercise and fitness may be considered key cogs in your ability to control your physical health, but the truth is that exercise can have a profound effect on your mental health as well.

Daily exercise, especially jogging or some type of intense aerobic activity, may be one of the safest and most natural ways to reduce anxiety, with benefits that go beyond simply improving your physical health and self-confidence.

Benefits of Jogging on Anxiety

While jogging is just one method of exercise, it is one of the easiest to do in your free time without requiring a gym membership or home equipment, and involves all of your muscles, so it is more efficient for reducing the effects of anxiety.

Benefits of jogging include:

• Endorphin Release – Long distance running is a natural part of human evolution. The body knows how important it is, so it releases endorphins – neurotransmitters that reduce the pain that jogging would otherwise create in your bones and muscles. Those same endorphins create a feeling of euphoria, known as the “runner’s high,” that causes you to feel better. It also is an important chemical for regulating mood, which also helps with stress.
• Cortisol Burning – Cortisol is a hormone released by anxiety that causes nearly all of the symptoms of stress. Studies have shown that running decreases the amount of this hormone in the body, using it up for energy, so that it isn’t able to cause as many negative symptoms.
• Tired Muscles – Tiring your muscles may not seem like it benefits anxiety, but several studies and relaxation techniques have found that when your muscles are tired you experience fewer symptoms of stress, and when you experience fewer symptoms of stress, you feel less stressed mentally.

The evidence is clear – jogging is, in many ways, an anxiety cure. At the very least, it can relieve some of the issues that exacerbate anxiety and make that anxiety easier to manage.

When to Exercise for Anxiety

There’s no clear time in the day that it is best to exercise. Ideally, you exercise both before and after stressful situations, to make sure that you’re less stressed going in and less stressed going out. Others find that jogging at lunch breaks is a good way to relieve the stress from work, while still others try to exercise before work, since those in toxic work environments often experience the most stress before the workday even begins.

The easiest answer is to say that you should jog whenever you believe that you need to, knowing what the effects of anxiety are. If you’re more comfortable jogging when you’re anxious, then that may be the best time to go running. If you prefer to start your day off as relaxed as possible, jogging in the morning may be more advantageous.

Overall, the most important thing to realize is that exercising – especially jogging and other aerobic activities, is a great way to relieve daily anxiety stress. It’s unlikely to be an anxiety cure, but it can help you manage your symptoms, and the more your symptoms are managed the easier it is for other treatments and relaxation tactics to work.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera’s profound anxiety often had him ill with stress, until he finally found a way to manage it. Now he writes about anxiety at www.calmclinic.com.

Exercise and fitness may be considered key cogs in your ability to control your physical health, but the truth is that exercise can have a profound effect on your mental health as well.

Daily exercise, especially jogging or some type of intense aerobic activity, may be one of the safest and most natural ways to reduce anxiety, with benefits that go beyond simply improving your physical health and self-confidence.

Benefits of Jogging on Anxiety

While jogging is just one method of exercise, it is one of the easiest to do in your free time without requiring a gym membership or home equipment, and involves all of your muscles, so it is more efficient for reducing the effects of anxiety. Benefits of jogging include:

·         Endorphin Release – Long distance running is a natural part of human evolution. The body knows how important it is, so it releases endorphins – neurotransmitters that reduce the pain that jogging would otherwise create in your bones and muscles. Those same endorphins create a feeling of euphoria, known as the “runner’s high,” that causes you to feel better. It also is an important chemical for regulating mood, which also helps with stress.

·         Cortisol Burning – Cortisol is a hormone released by anxiety that causes nearly all of the symptoms of stress. Studies have shown that running decreases the amount of this hormone in the body, using it up for energy, so that it isn’t able to cause as many negative symptoms.

·         Tired Muscles – Tiring your muscles may not seem like it benefits anxiety, but several studies and relaxation techniques have found that when your muscles are tired you experience fewer symptoms of stress, and when you experience fewer symptoms of stress, you feel less stressed mentally.

The evidence is clear – jogging is, in many ways, an anxiety cure. At the very least, it can relieve some of the issues that exacerbate anxiety and make that anxiety easier to manage.

When to Exercise for Anxiety

There’s no clear time in the day that it is best to exercise. Ideally, you exercise both before and after stressful situations, to make sure that you’re less stressed going in and less stressed going out. Others find that jogging at lunch breaks is a good way to relieve the stress from work, while still others try to exercise before work, since those in toxic work environments often experience the most stress before the workday even begins.

The easiest answer is to say that you should jog whenever you believe that you need to, knowing what the effects of anxiety are. If you’re more comfortable jogging when you’re anxious, then that may be the best time to go running. If you prefer to start your day off as relaxed as possible, jogging in the morning may be more advantageous.

Overall, the most important thing to realize is that exercising – especially jogging and other aerobic activities, is a great way to relieve daily anxiety stress. It’s unlikely to be an anxiety cure, but it can help you manage your symptoms, and the more your symptoms are managed the easier it is for other treatments and relaxation tactics to work.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera’s profound anxiety often had him ill with stress, until he finally found a way to manage it. Now he writes about anxiety at www.calmclinic.com.