Positive Effects of Exercise on Mental Health

While they might seem independent, spiritual, mental, and physical exercise are all connected. Incorporating each of these into our daily lives allows us to create positive energy and attack all challenges that we encounter.

“The more we take our time and focus on what we can’t do, we tend to stay in one place,” Kevin Smith, owner of the health and wellness company The BodySmith says. “But when we take the opportunity to start moving, we feel better.”

Confidence has a major impact on how you attack each day. If you feel as though you can achieve anything you set your mind to, you’ll feel stronger. Something as simple as achieving a workout goal in the morning allows you to celebrate an early success. This creates positive energy moving into the later parts of the day.

Stress is often impacted by a lack of confidence. If you’re less confident that you can accomplish a goal, you’re more likely to be stressed about it. This could be a job interview, completing work, or dealing with your children. Accomplishing a goal and releasing energy at the start of your day allows you to reduce this stress. Once you’ve released your stress, you’ll be ready to take on the other aspects of your daily life.

A great way to accomplish an early goal and release stress is through exercise. The first step to integrating exercise into your daily life is to identify the type of activity that works best for you. This can be any type of physical activity, including cardio, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, and bicycle riding.

Once you’ve found the right exercise, you’ll need to set goals. Achieving goals creates a positive mentality. The ability to cross something off of your list provides a sense of accomplishment. When creating an exercise plan, make sure it is achievable. Attempting to do more than you’re able could cause the opposite affect.

Each day, you can set mental and physical goals for yourself to achieve. A mental goal can be something as small as getting up each morning at a specific time. Before you’ve even started exercising, you’ve already accomplished something. Once you’ve completed your exercise for the day, you’ve achieved two goals before your day has truly begun.

So what’s stopping you from achieving these goals?

Every person has an inner coach and an inner critic. Think of these voices as an angel and devil on your shoulders. Your inner coach is your motivator, pushing you to do what best for your personal growth. Your inner critic is a coping mechanism, attempting to distract you from your thoughts and stress. Daily exercise can help to encourage your inner coach and ignore your inner critic, resulting in increased confidence.

“Everyone has a ton of resources, skills, and talents that are within them,” Smith says. “But most of us won’t activate it until we’re backed into a corner.”

Whether you enjoy running, walking, or some other physical activity, your inner critic might be telling you to relax rather than staying physically active. While you might desire relaxation at the time, you’ll experience negative feelings when you look back and haven’t completed your goal. Training yourself to listen to your inner coach will ensure that you don’t run into this unfortunate situation.

So how do we train ourselves to listen to our inner coach?

The first step to training your inner coach is finding a long-term motivator. This could be having children and wanting to play with them or planning to eventually help your elderly parents. Identifying your long-term motivating factor to stay fit will encourage you to continue exercising when your inner critic attempts to get in the way.

Training your inner coach is all about routine. Setting a daily routine and following it might be hard initially, but will eventually become a habit. Different scheduling tactics work for different people. Some might be better with a timer while others might be better with a written schedule. The key is to find the tactic that works best for you.

A good way to find your tactic is through trial and error. For example, you can set a timer every 90 minutes and do something simple, like eating a piece of fruit. For a while, you’ll need your timer to remind you to eat the fruit. After a while, it will become a habit and you won’t need the timer anymore. If this works, you’ve found your tactic to help you rise and exercise. If not, you can try something else until you find the right one.

Once you find the right tactic, you’ll be ready to set your daily routine. At first, you’ll need help getting the motivation to get up in the morning to complete your physical exercise. But eventually, it will become habitual and you’ll get up without even thinking about it.

While you might have a routine, you might not always be able to follow it. This is when your inner critic will step in. If you oversleep and miss an exercise, your inner critic will be hard on you. Forgiving yourself for these misses will keep you on the right track and in the right mindset. Tell yourself that you overslept for a reason. Waking up earlier might have required a later nap, causing you to miss an important task later on.

Spiritual, mental, and physical exercise can have a major impact on our daily lives. It provides confidence and reduces stress as we take on the various challenges that arrive. Physical well-being, recognizing successes, and forgiveness for imperfection will create a happier and healthier life.

If you’re looking to create a better mindset, book a free consultation through my website. You can also watch my weekly show, The Well-Balanced Mind, where I’ll provide insights into understanding your mind and behavior.

On the physical side, you can find more information about Kevin Smith and The BodySmith by visiting thebodysmithplan.com. Direct contact can be made through email at info@thebodysmithplan.com.

Do you find that you have anger, stress, or sadness and are looking for a change? Hypnotherapy might be a good fit for you. To schedule a consultation call, click here.