Decoding the mental health benefits of exercise

September 12, 2021

Kunal Sawhney

While exercise being good for the body is widely acknowledged - be it maintaining body weight or building muscles and reducing fat - the benefits that exercising can deliver for mental health is often overlooked.

Earlier this year, Japanese professional tennis player Naomi Osaka halted attending press conferences saying she gets “huge waves of anxiety” before speaking to the media.

More recently at the Tokyo Olympics, American artistic gymnast Simone Biles backed out from the competition to savour her mental health.

In the unprecedented times that we are currently living in, COVID-19 has triggered more mental stress than ever before. When it comes to finding solutions for this issue, there is a need to talk about the mental health benefits of exercising. To reiterate emphasis on the same, exercise is even used as a tool to treat many mental illnesses.

Decoding the mental health benefits of exercise:

• Stress reduction: Mental stress builds tension in muscles, so when one exercises, they release that excessive energy stored in their muscles. The body feels more relaxed, flexible, and easy-going.

• Releases frustration: One might feel frustrated and exhausted from things around them. They might burst out at the end of the day. So, rather than showing their anger to people, they can release their frustration in a much better way: through exercising. The physical release of negative energy will make one feel better, and their tolerance level would increase.

• Enhances concentration and productivity: With regular exercising, one becomes capable of maintaining their good mental state. Thus, with less stress and frustration, they can focus on their work more easily and increase their daily productivity.

• Nuanced sleep: Several studies have suggested that daily workouts help in sound sleep. It is pretty logical; if one works out daily, burns a good number of calories, at the end of the day, they’d be tired, and thus, would be able to have a sound goodnight sleep.

• Boosts self-esteem: People at times might feel under confident about their bodies. Although all bodies are beautiful, maintaining the desired weight is always better, both physically and mentally. So, a person who works out daily would feel fitter and would have better self-esteem.

• Puts life in order: Exercising helps in maintaining a schedule. If one is having a lethargic life, especially during the corona times, exercising helps in putting life back in order. In addition, scheduling helps in giving the mind peace.

• Fights lethargy: The pandemic is taking a huge toll on the mental and social life of people globally. With the new work from home culture and online deliveries of almost everything, people are hardly stepping out. Because of which unhealthy habits like staying in bed all day, not doing many body movements, etc develop easily. Thus, exercising is an excellent way of pushing back lethargy and makes people more involved and positive in life.

These times are harsh. COVID-19 is making life monotonous, boring, and fearful. Thus, through exercising, people can get rid of those negative emotions and move towards positivity. Exercising has manifold benefits on mental health. And, in today’s modern world, where mental illness cases are rising like anything, it is highly recommended to include at least 20 minutes of exercise time in the daily scheduling.

Image credit: Ryderwear.

About the author

Kunal Sawhney

Chief Executive, Kalkine Group

An entrepreneur with revolutionary ideas, Kunal Sawhney is a financial professional with wealth of knowledge in equities who aims to transform the delivery of equity research through tech-driven digital platforms

With his knowledge, skillset, and overarching vision, Sawhney established Kalkine (a business that is based on Digitally Powered Architecture and Extensive Data Science led Premium Research) that has become one of the fastest growing equity market research firms across Australia in 2014; and subsequently, in other emerging and developed markets.

Sawhney’s entrepreneurial and commercial skills backed by the passion to establish a tech-empowered research platform, helped in building Kalkine’s global presence across diverse geographies - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Further, the plans for the US launch in 2021, have set the premise for attaining an all-encompassing client reach for Kalkine’s Subscription and Media Operations.

With a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Technology, Sydney; Sawhney’s business acumen has enabled his brainchild, Kalkine, help clients navigate through equity related matters in a proficient and seamless manner.

Sawhney is featured regularly on CNBC, Sky Business, Biz News, Daily Mail, Yahoo Finance, KCBS Radio (Audacy), Bloomberg, Sydney Morning Herald, Global Banking and Financial Review and many more.

Click here to visit the Kalkine website.