5 Mental and Psychological Benefits of Exercise

Everyone knows that exercise provides a variety of physical benefits. It strengthens your bones and muscles, improves your body composition, and improves your physical health. However, many people are not aware of the mental and psychological benefits of exercise.

“Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects,” writes John J. Ratey, M.D., in Spark: The Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain. “I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain.” ¹

If you work in professional services or another career that is intellectually demanding, here are five mental and psychological benefits of exercise:

1. Exercise helps you manage stress better.

Chronic stress can compromise the architecture of your brain. Since exercise is a form of stress, it might seem counterintuitive that it could help you manage stress better.

However, the right amount of exercise (not too little or too much) sparks brain growth and forces your body and brain to adapt. When you exercise, neurons get broken down and built back up- just like muscles do. Repair mechanisms actually leave your cells stronger, making you more resilient and better equipped to handle stress in the future. ²

2. Exercise improves your mood and helps reduce and prevent anxiety and depression.

Nearly 20% of Americans will experience depression at some point in their lives. ³ In addition, nearly 20% of Americans struggle with clinical anxiety each year, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, and panic disorders. ⁴

According to Dr. Ratey, there is a connection between how much you exercise and your risk for anxiety and depression. ⁵ Researchers have also found that exercise can be at least as effective as anti-depressant medication in treating depression. ⁶

In the short-term, exercise increases dopamine, noradrenaline (also known as norepinephrine), and serotonin, which are neurotransmitters that stabilize your mood and enhance your sense of calm. This is one reason why you feel good right after a workout. Over the long-term, consistent exercise can also elevate your baseline levels of these neurotransmitters.

3. Exercise improves your ability to learn.

Your brain is flexible, and it is constantly being rewired. According to Dr. Ratey, exercise improves learning on three levels.

First of all, exercise helps nerve cells bind together, which is the cellular basis for logging in new information. Secondly, exercise supports the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a major role in learning and memory. Finally, exercise optimizes your mindset to improve motivation, alertness, and attention. ⁷

4. Exercise improves your ability to focus.

In today’s fast-paced, always connected world, many people are finding it more and more difficult to concentrate. Exercise can help you prevent and overcome this challenge. You can actually strengthen the vast areas of your brain that are associated with concentration. Exercise also improves your ability to focus by increasing dopamine and noradrenaline, neurotransmitters that play a leading role in regulating your attention system. ⁸

5. Exercise improves your confidence and identity.

While medication can help treat some mental or psychological problems, it does not improve your mood or confidence naturally. Even worse, medication often comes with negative side effects.

On the other hand, exercise helps you develop an ability to cope with challenges naturally. Exercise (especially more difficult kinds of exercise) also teaches your brain how to cope with discomfort. It helps you become more comfortable feeling uncomfortable. All of this improves your confidence and the way that you see yourself.

My Experience with Exercise

While I have been active throughout my entire life, my reasons for exercising have evolved over the years. Earlier in my life, it was strictly about the physical benefits.

In my early thirties, I started exercising before work (instead of after work) and noticed something interesting. I always felt sharper mentally and better psychologically after starting the day with a workout, especially when the workout was difficult, fast-paced, and complex.

It felt like my own little secret at first. Initially, I had no idea there was so much scientific research to support my personal experience.

These days, the mental and psychological benefits of exercise are even more powerful for me than the physical benefits. It’s always easier for me to concentrate after exercising in the morning. I’m also more optimistic, calmer, and happier for the rest of the day.

Summary and Final Thoughts

The physical benefits of exercise are terrific. However, the mental and psychological benefits of exercise are even more powerful, especially for those who work in professional services and other intellectually demanding careers. Here are the top five mental and psychological benefits of exercise:

1. Exercise helps you manage stress better.
2. Exercise improves your mood and helps reduce and prevent anxiety and depression.
3. Exercise improve your ability to learn.
4. Exercise improves your ability to focus.
5. Exercise improves your confidence and identity.

Exercise is like a natural mood-boosting and brain-boosting drug. It helps you feel better and perform better- both in the short-term and over the long-term. Even better, there are no negative side effects, like there often are with medications.

As Dr. Ratey writes in Spark, “Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.”