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Studies have repeatedly shown that exercise can be beneficial for those suffering from mild to moderate depression. It may seem like too much effort but it really can help, often providing instant relief with as little as 15 – 20 min of activity.

Some studies have even shown that exercise can improve your mood for up to 12 hours. Depression manifests itself in physical and mental factors and as such physical solutions can be helpful for beating depression.

The benefits of exercise include but are not limited too:

• Increased self-esteem
• More energy
• Sleep improvement
• Reducing stress
• Warding off anxiety and depression feelings.
• Increase in sense of mastery.

Besides that you still have the physical health benefits such as:

• It strengthens your heart.
• Lower blood pressure
• Improve strength and muscle tone
• Stronger bones
• Reducing body fat
• Fit and health appearance

Below are some tips to use for exercises with depression.

Set simple goals for yourself – unless you really want to, there’s no need to run a marathon! It could be as simple as walking around the block. Just make the commitment to go out and do it. Trust me, I know how hard it is, it takes a lot of commitment just to get out of bed! But once you’re out, you’ve already done the hardest part! Just try your best to get over that first hurdle.

Take it easy – no need to stress or be critical, as long as you go out and do something its good. Promise yourself to improve each time but don’t criticize yourself if you didn’t get as far as you wanted. It’s supposed to fun and mood elevating remember J.

Do what you know and like – or do what you used to enjoy a lot, it can bring back fun memories and you already know what its like.

Bring a friend – the more the merrier right? Bring someone along to help stay motivated and for support. Sharing with someone is great more often than not!

Mix it up! – Variety is key, change it up, keep your body guessing. That has the best physical and mental effects. Switch relaxing exercises such as yoga and Pilates with more intense exercises such as jogging or a fitness.

Believe me when I say that exercise has lifted my mood more than once. It served as a distraction and made me feel physically better. Which also led to a better mood. Once you get past that first step, you’ll find that you can exercise when you have depression and that it will even make you feel better!

Enjoy and take care!

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