Several studies have shown that physical activity can reduce symptoms in anxiety disorders as it can act as protective factor by providing stress relief for the body and improving sleep.
If you feel that being active and getting moving would be helpful for you, here are some tips I find are helpful in staying motivated:
- Find an activity that works well for you. Just like different people have different body types and metabolism, different exercises might feel better for certain people. Check in with yourself after trying different activities to determine the activities that you enjoy and helps with your anxiety. You don’t have to be limited to one activity either — it can vary based on time of day and how you’re feeling. For example, you can go running/ jogging in the morning and do yoga or do a dance session at night, on the weekends you can try horse-back riding or strength training as you have more time to recover.
- Start small. Start by committing to once or twice a week. Once you feel more comfortable, you can increase the amount. Over time this can become a habit.
- Exercise in a supportive environment. Whether it be indoors or outdoors, at home or at the gym, its important that you’re staying active in a place that you enjoy staying active in, as well as feel safe and comfortable -- If you are anxious to go to the gym, you’re not alone (I feel the same). You can see this post to get some tips and share your experiences.
If you’ve had positive experiences with exercise and movement for your anxiety, what are your favourite exercises and tips to get your body moving?