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This is Brent Weigner, 77, who has run marathons in, by my last count, 211 countries. Look at that smile. Any mental health challenges are wiped away by a good run, no matter where you are.
By Ray Glier
“Exercise is not just a mood boost in the moment. It restructures the brain over time.”
Your brain is doing laps in the pool with you. It is along for the ride on a modest 5k run. The gray matter between our ears rides the bike, lifts weights, and walks the block.
When we give our bodies a workout, we give our brains a workout.
I didn’t know the extent of the benefits of exercise.
According to The British Journal of Sports Medicine, “when compared with people who were sedentary, those who engaged in all types of physical activity and exercise studied, including walking, resistance training, Pilates, and yoga, showed greater improvements in symptoms of mild to moderate depression. Yoga and other mind-body exercises helped reduce anxiety the most, while resistance exercise appeared to help the most with depression.
The analysis, published online Feb. 16, 2023, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, used 97 earlier research reviews involving more than 1,000 trials with a total of 128,119 people. That is a firm data set.
You really can boost your mood with exercise.
From Dr. Lindsay Honaker, The Cleveland Clinic:
“Physical activity also raises serotonin and dopamine, the two neurotransmitters most closely linked to mood regulation. It reduces cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. Exercise improves sleep, reduces stress and anxiety, and enhances self-esteem and social support.
“Better sleep leads to more emotional resilience. Reduced cortisol means less chronic anxiety. Higher serotonin means steadier mood.
The Austrailians studied it, too.
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