Sweat Away Your Stress

Whatever tension you’re feeling inside, there’s a workout to help you decompress. Here are exercises to help you feel better

- Cher Petersen

When you’re really stressed, finding the time and energy to exercise can feel like yet another thing to stress about.

You know you should, but you just can’t seem to find the motivation. And then you feel bad for lacking the motivation, so you slump on the couch and reach for the TV remote or a bar of chocolate instead – and so the cycle starts all over again.

Maybe what you should do is this: stop waiting to feel like you want to exercise. Just do it. Because the research is clear – when it comes to your wellbeing, working up a sweat is one of the best things you can do.

Numerous studies have shown that exercise can significantly reduce stress and its related symptoms. It might seem counterintuitive that exercise – itself a form of physical stress – can help you manage stress.

But although exercise initially increases the body’s stress response, regular bouts of physical activity actually lower levels of the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine (adrenalin), according to an article published by the American Psychological Association. “Biologically, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practise dealing with stress,” the authors say.

“It forces the body’s physiological systems – all of which are involved in the stress response – to communicate much more closely than usual: the cardiovascular system communicates with the renal system, which communicates with the muscular system.”