Exercise for Stress, Anxiety and Depression Essay

of exercise as a mode of treatment or as a medium that offers aid to treatment of people displaying mild to moderate depression. The latest of these meta-regression studies (Lawlor and Hopker 2001) included an organized analysis of 14 RCTs; the conclusions are comparable to previous meta-analyses. Exercise in a way creates a pathway to channel out all the negativity out of the body. Be it a boxing exercise where all the negativity are focused on to the punching bag or lifting weights where all the energy that was focused onto stress is redirected into exercise. The mind is relieved after a good workout. The findings evidently reveal that exercise lessens the symptoms of depression. The effect was greater for studies having a shorter development period. Similarly, exercise is established to be as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy in a bid to reduce depression.

The key results from numerous meta-analyses exhibit that exercise has an antidepressant influence compared with other control conditions ranging from slightly moderate to very large (Rimer et al. 2012). Several studies indicate that exercise combined with traditional treatment, (I.e. psychotherapy and antidepressant medication) appears to produce even better results than either by itself. Furthermore, exercise training is cost-effective and there is certainly no stigma associated with the exercise. In other words, exercise is safe and has no side effects (Leo, 2014). This means, it is more reliable compared to other medications essentially for some patients’ for instance children and pregnant women. This is obtained from findings that clearly illustrate how exercise during pregnancy aids in mental and physical health of both, the mother and fetus, resulting to low chances of injury.

However, the choice

of an exercise and the duration in which the exercise should last, greatly depends on the extent of the depression (Swan, 2012). Unlike mentioned above on how exercise can be employed as an intervention to manage mild to moderate depression, for patients with major depression; who frequently suffer from exhaustion and low motivation, the level of perceived effort during any physical activity is usually a critical parameter when planning and designing an suitable exercise schedule. That is, for mild to moderate depression, the result of exercise may be similar to antidepressant treatment and psychotherapy; however, for severe depression, exercise appears to be a valued complementary treatment to the traditional therapy. Social and psychological problems cause considerable stress. Widespread fatigue and deficiency of energy are characteristic signs of major depression. The exercise tolerance of such patients is reduced due to the patients having been preoccupied with physical reactions during the exercise for example hyperventilation, perspiration, and. Shivers. Therefore, it’s evident that these psychological factors cannot be ignored when developing a well-designed fitness program. According to a Contemporary research from scholars in the USA, show that exercise has to be an equivalent of the public health dose so as to be effective in reduction of depression, however, that rate of recurrence does not matter (Dunn et. al. 2005). Therefore, it’s evident that, physical exercise has an impact on both physical and mental health, and thus can be used in prevention and treatment of depression.

Some psychological analysts ascertain that exercise is an essential type of treatment for anxiety issues. Research has indicated over and over that patients who take regular exercise regimens see a positive change in their

temperament, that is, advancements synonymous to that of those treated with medicine (SERVAN-SCHREIBER, 2005). The outcomes truly are impressive and commendable, especially when you consider that such exercises are essentially free and offer you various other health advantages as well. The benefits are independent on whether the activity is deliberate or forced. Thus, regardless of the fact that you feel you need to exercise, say for wellbeing reasons, there's a good chance that you'll benefit.

Exercise is unanimously, one of the most dominant natural treatments for anxiety (OTTO & SMITS, 2011). Whenever one is anxious about anything, it’s usually prudent to do some exercise, be it a gym or any other exercise program as it leads to relief and relaxation. And the feeling of relief you acquire after that, is remarkable. It also leads to a better sleep and one feels energetic at the same time. As an anti-anxiety remedy, it is often recommended you join a gym or find a worthy group exercise program within your locality. (A good example is boot camp). This not only helps in relieving anxiety problems, but also makes you get fitter whilst boosting your esteem considerably at the same time.

Similarly, exploring other varieties of home treatments for anxiety, including; meditation, yoga and acupuncture have far reaching significance. They not only lead to enjoyment when performing them, but also as far as treatment is concerned, they work incredibly well. A decent yoga session or meditation class is now widespread in every neighborhood (fonda, 2013). Nevertheless, in the event of uncomfortable feeling associated with going to a yoga class; purchasing a DVD would suffice. However, with acupuncture, it is recommended, finding

highly reliable practitioner and not just anyone. This would convincingly lead to contentment as acupuncture is a great alleviant, stress reliever and natural remedy for anxiety.

Stress management denotes the techniques and psychotherapies used in regulating a person's stress intensities, generally aiming at improving everyday functioning. There are various stress management techniques are available and practical. Some are used by health specialists and others are for self-help use. They are used to assist an individual to reduce their stress levels, provide affirmative feelings of control over one's natural life and also encourage general body health. In assessing the effectiveness of various stress management techniques, the main impediment is a limited research and hence the evaluation is difficult. Consequently, the amount and quality of evidence for the various techniques varies widely. There are some that are acknowledged as effective treatments for usage in psychotherapy, whilst others, those with a smaller amount of evidence favoring them, are considered alternate therapies. In developing an effective stress management suite, it is first essential to identify the issues that are core to a person monitoring his/her stress. Also, it’s important to identify the intervention techniques which efficiently target these aforementioned factors. This allows us to assess the most suitable exercises that can be employed in stress management.

Stress management is broken down into three phases: that is, primary, secondary, tertiary. Primary involves management by eliminating the stressors in unison. Secondary management deals with identifying stress and determining ways to handle it and also improving stress management abilities. Lastly, tertiary management deals with the recovery and rehabbing of the stress. The three steps are usually the most effective way to deal with stress. These activities, as

earlier mentioned depend on the level of stress; High demand intensities necessitate an extra work and effort. Some of the exercises induce a relatively lower than normal stress level, provisionally, in a bid to compensate the biological tissues that are involved whilst others confront the stressor at a higher abstraction level (LEHRER & WOOLFOLK, 2007).

Specific exercises are numerous. Reading novels is a great exercise that can be used in stress management. It enables one to direct attention and focus on the story thus reducing the stress levels. Similarly, another marvelous exercise is prayer. It aids stress management by provision of contentment brought about by the fact that one feels less troubled by the issue that was causing the stress. Physical exercise is still another admirable technique that can be used in managing stress levels. Deep breathing is also a successful exercise in stress management. It refers to breathing done by contracting the diaphragm; it helps to improve a variety of factors such as, cardio-respiratory capability, posture, pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength. This results to reduced stress levels all together. Similarly, Music is also a great coping strategy. It involves the use of music (either via listening or playing it) in order to reduce many of the psychological and physical manifestations of stress. It is an example of an emotion-based, adaptive coping strategy. It aims at reducing or eliminating the perceived feelings as a result of stress. Lastly, the relaxation technique can also be used. A relaxation technique refers to an activity that assists a person to relax and attain a state of improved calmness; this helps to reduce levels of stress. Relaxation techniques are

often used in stress management programs to lower the blood pressure, decrease muscle tension, and slow heart and breathe rates (BROWN & GERBARG, 2012). Consequently, this effectively results in a successful stress management.

In conclusion, for mild to moderate depression, the result of exercise is comparable to antidepressant medication and psychotherapy (BUCKWORTH & BUCKWORTH, 2013). Exercises help to improve physical health, body image, and patient’s coping strategies with stress, depression and anxiety. Motivational approaches should be amalgamated in exercise interventions so as to enhance both the person’s motivation and their perception and devotion to exercise (COLDWELL, 2010). That is, considering cognitive, emotional and physiological components of depression. Also on a similar note, exercises can be used as anti-anxiety treatment and also in stress management. From the above, it’s evident that exercises have far reaching significance both in alleviating health problems and also in ensuring that the individual maintains body well-being.

References

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