How Exercise Benefits Your Mind as well as Your Body

The physical benefits of exercise are plain to see, but there are also a number of psychological benefits associated with keeping fit. You may decide to take up running or cycling for the purposes of losing weight and improving your fitness, but by making exercise a regular feature in your life, you will also discover how much better you feel. This isn't just about being able to run faster for longer without getting tired, as doing exercise actually makes you feel less stressed and more upbeat about life. That is one of the reasons doctors try to encourage people suffering from depression to increase their activity levels.

It is hard to appreciate the psychological benefits of exercise until you actually start doing some. You can obviously see how doing regular exercise transforms your physical self – enabling you to lose weight and develop muscles where previously there was only fat – but it is very easy to overlook the benefits of exercise for your mind. It is probably because exercise leaves you feeling happier and less anxious that so many people continue to exercise regularly. When you're somewhat of a couch potato it is hard to imagine what would drive anyone to go for a run when it is pouring down with rain and freezing cold outside, until you actually try it.

Some types of physical activity will appeal to you more than others. If you're significantly overweight, the thought of doing a high-impact activity such as running may fill you with dread, whereas walking or swimming may seem more tolerable activities. It helps to approach exercise with a positive mindset, because if you tell yourself you loathe all forms of exercise before even doing anything, you're only making it harder for yourself. Once exercise becomes part of your routine you will no longer avoid it like the plague, because you will appreciate how much calmer you feel after doing any kind of activity that gets your heart rate up.

Perhaps you're not the type of person who is ever going to love exercise, in which case it is even more important that you appreciate the physical and psychological benefits of keeping active. When you exercise your brain produces endorphins, which leave you feeling in a more positive frame of mind and it is these feel-good chemicals that can give exercise an addictive quality. Even if you do not enjoy doing exercise, there is always the option to make your workouts a social occasion. If you get friends and relatives on board, at least you will have someone to keep you company when you're working up a sweat, which should help to keep you motivated.

Thus, if you're having doubts about working on your fitness and doing some exercise, you might want to think again. In a stressful, hectic world it is worth taking time out for yourself and to do some exercise that will leave you feeling less frustrated, stressed and worried and better able to concentrate and deal with whatever life has to throw at you.

Why You Should Stop Comparing Your Body to Other People's.

Low self-esteem can be an issue when you're overweight, as you often compare yourself to everyone else and think that you're less attractive, less intelligent and the kind of person nobody wants to be around. There is usually more to low self-esteem than weight issues, but they can still play a significant part in how you feel about yourself. You just want to fit in and be accepted, but can feel that your weight holds you back in all areas of your life – from your career to your love life. It doesn't seem fair that all the skinny girls get all the attention and success which you crave.

It is generally a positive step to decide to lose weight, especially if it is affecting your confidence and making you feel depressed. However, the danger is that you start comparing yourself to other people in a way that puts pressure on you to lose an increasing amount of weight as quickly as possible. If you fixate on the ultra-slim celebrity bodies you see in magazines, you may decide to take drastic steps to achieve the same look. You might starve yourself or exercise like a demon when you body isn't used to it.

You may end up losing lots of weight, but you have to ask yourself whether you will actually be able to keep the weight off? For many people, it is not losing weight that is the problem, but rather keeping it off. You may enjoy the feedback you receive as a result of your weight loss, but then you feel an overwhelming amount of pressure to keep the weight off and it can get you down. You will probably find that you haven't been able to completely shed the bad habits you had before, so that eventually the weight starts coming back on.

Not everyone is designed to be skinny and so you would be better off concentrating on your own weight loss and fitness aims, rather than getting sidetracked by how slim everyone else is. So what if your friends can all squeeze themselves into tiny dresses? The most important thing is that you're happy and healthy, which you won't be if you're continually alternating between bingeing and eating very little whilst exercising to the point of exhaustion. You really need to lose weight for your own health and well-being, instead of worrying what everyone else thinks.

At the end of the day, comparing yourself to your friends, relatives, work colleagues, celebrities and anyone else you encounter in real life or in magazines isn't going to help you feel better about yourself. Losing weight isn't going to cure your self-esteem issues overnight and so you have to work on appreciating your qualities, rather than always talking yourself down and being negative about yourself, since there is clearly more to you than just how much you weigh.