The Fitness-Mental Health Connection: How Exercise improves mental health and how mental health is positive for physical health

This is a topic we have delved into before but we wanted to look at it from a different angle.

We understand how motivation and mindset can assist in exercise, but today we wanted to look at the bi-directional way that exercise improves mental health, and how positive mental attitudes can impact physical health.

Let's first look at how exercise can improve mental health. This is a topic that has received substantial research, and so far the research has found that:

• Reduces anxiety and anxiety symptoms

• Improves depression related symptoms

• Improves mood

• Improves self-esteem

• Improves cognitive function and decreases cognitive decline

• Improves socialisation and decreases social decline

• Improves memory

• Reduces stress

• Reduces symptoms of many mental health conditions and assists in management of these conditions

• Improves concentration

• Decreases negative thought patterns

• Decreases loneliness and isolation

So as you can see there are many mental benefits of exercise, but how does the benefits function the other way; how does improved mental health benefit physical health and fitness:

• Decreased risk of heart attack and stroke

• Improved immune function

• Decreased likelihood of preventable diseases

• Decreases risk of chronic diseases

• Decreased mortality and morbidity rate

• Decreased risk behaviour such as smoking, drug and alcohol consumption

• Decreased immune stress

The benefits of this bi-directional relationship between physical and mental health are very apparent from the above, as we can see. Physical and mental health need to be treated as heavily related, with both being as important as each other!