Exercise

Scientific research shows that routine exercise can positively affect mood and help with anxiety and depression.

Why? Because exercise increases the body’s production of endorphins, neurochemicals that can relieve depression. Exercise also alters neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine in the brain's frontal cortex and the hippocampus. Exercise generated changes appear to be similar to those produced by antidepressants. Exercise stimulates the vagus nerve, a crucial emotional pathway between the heart and brain.

In addition exercise improves the aerobic capacity of the heart and lungs, and in doing so improves the ability of the body to handle stress, and helps to prevent stress from turning into anxiety.

As little as three hours per week of aerobic exercise can profoundly reduce anxiety and depression. For depression, the effects may take a little longer than antidepressants to take hold, but they last longer as well. For anxiety, the effects are much more immediate.

One study compared the effects of an exercise training program on patients with mild to moderate depression with the effects of a prescription antidepressant drug (Zoloft). The researchers, at Duke Medical School, found the two approaches to be equally effective after 16 weeks of treatment.

Of course, exercise involves far fewer side effects, and hundreds of dollars less in expense in those sixteen weeks.

Some researchers contend that the more ongoing aerobic exercise a person undertakes, the better will be their recovery. However, ample studies show that more gentle exercise, and even resistance exercises like weight training, as be effective in treating depression.

Without question, even a walk around the block can help. The problem for many anxious and depressed people is that they understand exercise is a good thing, but they are too anxious and depressed to motivate themselves to exercise.

If you are one of those folks, you will can be helped by simple hypnotherapy and visualization techniques. All you need to do is take several deep breaths, close your eyes, and imagine yourself exercising and enjoying it.