Anxiety Training

I write a fair amount about the connection between exercise and depression (short version:  get cardio to reduce symptoms), but I sometimes forget to write about how exercise helps with anxiety.  (Note:  exercise anxiety is a thing, but I’m talking about the garden-variety kind here.)

 

People who deal with anxiety are familiar with the raised heart rate, shortness of breath, and panicky feelings it can produce.  They know about the hamster wheel of worry.

 

Here’s what exercise does to help.  That hamster?  It gets tired out when we do our cardio.  Our brains literally calm down.  When we go outside, it works even better.

 

Cardio also raises our heart rate and makes us breathe faster and harder.  In effect, we practice for panic attacks by doing cardio.  We get familiar with the feelings and we know how to recover from them because we’ve done it so many times before.

 

None of these things are a substitute for actual medical and/or psychological help.  If we need medication, we should take it.  If we need to talk to an expert, we should do it.  What I am suggesting is that exercise can be a helpful addition to the coping toolkit.

 

Be well.