We hear it over and over again, exercise can improve your mental health…but the question remains…is it true? Does it actually work? This post was sparked by a conversation I had with a client recently, and ultimately it made me reflect on my own journey…so let’s talk about it!
I’ve been active most of my life. I was an elite swimmer through my late elementary and high school years, a somewhat regular gym goer in University (although I will admit my training in those days was getting on the elliptical) and got slightly more consistent with training when I graduated University. Over all those years I experienced plenty of moments of stress but I was never one to crack under pressure…in fact I would argue that I thrived pretty well in pressure situations. Despite being an elite athlete in high school I was always on the honour roll all while still maintaining a social life. Moving into University and a heavy science based course load I still managed to get to the gym somewhat regularly in most years while maintaining a social life and average grades. During summers I worked 2 jobs and 60-70 hour work weeks while maintaining a social life and continued to work every other weekend through most of the school year…I reiterate…I put a lot on my plate, and to be honest with you…I never felt all that overwhelmed. I also never gave it much thought as to why.
I now know that it was a combination of a few things. Being an elite athlete in high school taught me discipline and time management skills that I don’t believe I would have ever learned in any other situation. Having to manage full schedules in University and beyond I learned the tips and tricks for keeping track of everything. I had wipe board calendars on my walls that were colour coded with different jobs and classes (I still do this…it’s just now a colour coded calendar in my phone instead). Because I had pretty good time management skills I was generally able to keep my stress levels under control.
I also now know that although I didn’t realize it at the time I was pretty good at making sure that I included things for myself. Maintaining a social life was always a part of those calendars, I always included it. I also generally had exercise and activities on the calendar, so movement was there. Self-care and looking after you is one of the most important things that you can do when it comes to managing stress and improving mental health and as I said, I had no idea at the time that’s what I was doing…but it was exactly what I was doing.
So when did it change…with a large life change that included a cross country move. I made the move from Ontario to BC for school and for the first time in my life I struggled. To keep a long story short, I loved my first year of school on the west coast, and living in Victoria wasn’t a terrible thing either. I wouldn’t say I was super consistent with workouts in my first year…but I did spend a lot of time exploring, hiking, being active (just not in a gym setting). In my second year that changed. The program was intense…so intense that outside of classes, placement and sleep there was no down time…there was very little time to look after myself and I wasn’t happy. I had no social life that didn’t involve school and I had no time to spend exploring, be active or work out (unless it was involved in my school courses). Life became school and nothing else. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, reflecting on it…I believe that losing the exercise and the social life components took a toll on my mental health.
After doing some evaluation and self-reflection I was able to bring my goals and what I wanted into a clear picture and things started to fall into place. After leaving the program exercise and fitness became a part of my life again and I felt content in where I was at again. But as life ebbs and flows so does commitment levels to exercise and although I generally remained active there were periods where I was certainly more active than other times because of work or other life commitments/events. This is normal though…so I was never one to beat myself up over missing a couple days in a row when there was a lot of things going on.
Enter the COVID-19 pandemic. I do realize that I am privileged in the sense that I have a home gym so I understand that my experience may not have been able to replicated by all others so I’m not passing any judgement just sharing my experience here. But when the pandemic began I was working from home, I lost my commute to and from work everyday and with the limitations on activities and outings I had a lot more free time on my hands. This lead me to being able to get into a consistent workout routine and although I preached the positive impacts of exercise on mental health to clients and taught it in all my coaching until I experienced it myself…I don’t know that I realized how much of a difference it truly does make.
I starting lifting weights 5-6 days per week and walking almost pretty much everyday and the results were unlike anything I would have imagined. Like I already mentioned I know the benefits, I preach the benefits…but I truly did not realize the magnitude of these benefits until I experienced them first hand during a difficult time.
Exercise kept me sane through all of this. Anytime I felt like I needed an escape my headphones went in and I was able to shut the world out and get lost in movement. And that is truly the power of movement. Exercise helped me feel happier and full of life. It helped me manage stresses going on in my life and throughout the day and it made me feel energized even when I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was able to better manage my time and adjust appropriately when there were a lot of things on my plate and I was able to feel more alive overall. To say that exercise was a saving grace to my mental health during this time would be 100% accurate, and even now that is still the case. Knowing the benefits that exercise can have on your mental health is one thing, but experiencing it first hand makes it something that you can truly understand on a new level. Like I said…I preach this to clients, I understand it…but watching it manifest itself in my own life just brings a whole new life to it.
I believe that exercise is an imperative part of maintaining good mental health. Is it the only answer…absolutely not, but I do believe it is an important part of the puzzle. Stress in our lives affects each and every one of us differently and there isn’t only one way to manage our stress and maintain good mental health…but I do believe that almost everyone can benefit from including a little bit of movement into that plan. Keep in mind that the movement has to be something that you enjoy, something that lights you up, something that fuels your soul. If it’s not then it is probably going to bring you more stress than stress relief…but when you find the form of movement that is right for you and you engage in it consistently you will get to see your life change right in front of your eyes…and that is an amazing thing to see!
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