One of my favorite hobbies is working out, but unlike in the past, I’ve recently felt like I haven’t had the time or energy to weightlift every day.
This led me to explore other ways of working out, and now, I mix strength training, stretching and cardio. While I mainly weightlift or use the treadmill, I have grown fond of Pilates and walking around the lake on campus.
Not only does working out help me feel physically stronger and more confident, but it also helps my mental health in many ways.
It helps me reduce my stress levels, cope healthily and improve my mood. For these reasons, people need to know all of the physical and mental benefits of exercise and the many different forms of exercise you can do.
According to Harvard Health Publishing, there are four primary forms of exercise: aerobic, strength training, stretching and balance.
Aerobic exercises, also known as cardio, speed up your heart rate and breathing, which works out your heart and lungs, increases endurance and can increase mood, Harvard Health Publishing says. This type of workout includes running, walking, swimming, dancing or playing a sport. I do cardio mainly by jogging, walking or playing tennis.
Harvard Health Publishing describes strength training as exercises that strengthen muscles to make you stronger, lower blood pressure, and improve balance and posture. The most notable form includes lifting weights or bodyweight strength training, but there is also high-intensity interval training (HIIT), CrossFit, Pilates and more included.
Harvard Health Publishing states that stretching is beneficial because it helps maintain flexibility, increases your range of motion and reduces pain and the risk of injury. They also mention that balance exercises are crucial as people age and start to lose their balance more.
While all of these areas are important, you don’t have to do them all every day or even every week; you should just try to work out when you can. If I have a busy day, I plan to go to the gym the next day when I have more time.
An academic article titled “Exercise for Mental Health” noted that “exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and improving self-esteem and cognitive function.”
The article says that mental health professionals should raise awareness of exercise’s specific physical and mental benefits: improved sleep, better endurance, stress relief, improved mood, increased energy, weight reduction, and cardiovascular fitness.
Unfortunately, therapists and other mental health professionals don’t usually offer exercise as a coping mechanism, at least not in my experience. I think it’s vital for people, especially college students who are at such an overwhelming point in their lives, to know all the coping mechanisms to get through everything that life throws at them.
The Mayo Clinic writes about how to get started and stick with working out. They say it is important to find what you enjoy, and I couldn’t agree more. Your workout should be fun and make you feel good. It shouldn’t be something that you hate every second of. What one person finds enjoyable may be something you hate, so trying out different types of exercise to see what you like is essential.
The Mayo Clinic also recommends setting reasonable goals. These can include the number of days or hours you work out in a week, your weight or any attainable goal related to working out. These goals can help motivate you to keep going even when you’re exhausted and sore.
Finally, the Mayo Clinic says that you shouldn’t treat exercise like a chore. By treating it like a chore, you are making it a chore. Don’t force yourself to go daily if you aren’t having fun. If you find a kind of exercise that you enjoy, it should feel like a hobby rather than something you have to get done.
Exercise has been severely underutilized as a mental health tool, mainly being presented for physical reasons. I think it’s crucial for college students to work out at least once a week to boost their mental and physical health; even walking to classes if it’s more than ten minutes can count as a workout.
Kate Beske is a 21-year-old journalism senior from Destrehan, La.
