Mental health and wellbeing is something we hear a lot about in the news and it’s often linked with how exercise can help this but how does it help?
I am no expert on mental health and I don’t profess to be. I speak from my own experiences and how training helps me feel more positive but also the other end of the spectrum when training has been detrimental to my own health.
For me, there are various different reasons exercise has helped with my mental health. The ability to focus on nothing but lifting weights and reaching the next corner while running allows time to focus on something other than the stresses of daily life. You set time aside for yourself and (unless you train with others) will create a small window for some head space and clarity of thought. The exercise itself releases endorphins which creates a ‘feel good’ factor (usually arriving at the end of an intense cardio session!). For me personally, having too much time to think can sometimes create issues which is why focusing on the next lift and starting to plan my next workout instantly gives me something else, more positive to focus on.
This is great! An awesome way for me to relieve stress and stay fit and healthy at the same time, that is until it becomes an unhealthy obsession and something I come to rely on. I have found myself in the past foregoing meals and making myself sick so that I can train. I thought this was the best way to train, on an empty stomach. I relied on exercise to take my mind from a reality I was struggling with so when I couldn’t do it due to time restraints or injury, I became more stressed than I would have otherwise been. 12 sessions a week turned to 0 and I stressed even more about the progress I felt I could never get back. I slowly became more depressed about my situation and I stressed about not achieving my lifelong goals, which at the time was joining the Royal Marines. I thought myself weak and of no use to anybody while I wasn’t training. Looking back, this I when I realised that something didn’t add up. My original thoughts on exercise seemed not too match the way I was feeling at that time. I was able to reflect from more of an outsiders point of view and reviewed my actual, physical progress. It wasn’t much further along than what I would of expected and if anything I had regressed but I didn’t understand why.
I took to studying the science behind the training, reviewed my training schedule so that when I was able to train again I could make the progress I expected to. Within the next year I found my results were more in-line with what they should have been for a lad my age putting in the level of continued effort I was (they still weren’t perfect but this improved as time went on). Training sessions almost halved but I was making far more progress. I was eating more of the good foods and far less of the bad. I was focusing on the results and this made me fall in love with exercise again. It made me fall in love with being healthy while training and using the results as a feel good factor as well as the training itself.
This time in my life reflects the turning point in both my physical and mental wellbeing alongside training. I learnt to love my training but not rely on it. If I did miss the odd training session I would no longer beat myself up about it, go and be sick after a meal and then train at 2300hrs before waking up at 0500hrs for a run. I was able to take the benefits of exercise but learned to leave out the negative aspects when everything didn’t go my way.
Training can mean different things to different people. I have seen people in the gym environment over the years that just want a change of environment to their own four walls at home. I have seen people training to compete on a professional standard and they only do it for as long as they have to (as with most jobs) but this still allows them to focus on what they love. Other people use classes and gym workouts as a social event on their weekly calendar and other people, the majority of people, lift for some sort of mental or physical benefit. Whatever exercise means to you, ensure you stay on the right side of the line and don’t let it start to control your life. Ensure your training enhances your wellbeing and doesn’t hinder it. Mental wellbeing can be a fickle creature so ensure you are doing the correct thing for YOU and if you aren’t sure, ASK!
If you need help just ask.
A news article that hit home for me and encouraged this post:
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-rugby-player-developed-eating-20236012
