Exercise Not Only Makes People Smarter, It Makes Them Happier

Exercise, a word that most Americans view as torment in their quest for a healthy body, now provides greater benefits besides strong muscles. A recent Newsweek article titled “Can Exercise Make you Smarter?” discussed current medical findings how exercise increases brainpower. The same can also be said of how exercise can have a positive affect on a person’s emotional state.

According to The National Institute on Mental Health, approximately 40 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 18.1 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have an anxiety disorder. “Anxiety prevents us from being happy, can cause physical ailments, and keeps us from taking healthy risks that may improve the quality of our live, says Bob Livingstone, psychotherapist and founder of www.boblivingstone.com. “At the simplest level, we spend too much time worrying… and even moderate exercise can help reduce those feelings.” says Livingstone.

There are now many studies that conclude that physical exercise brings a state of wellbeing and calmness, and some research shows that working out as little as 15 minutes enables a person to reach this state of wellbeing. Livingstone comments, “Dealing with emotional trauma, whether subtle or extreme, doesn’t seem possible while sedentary. Exercise, and most importantly the endorphins that it creates within the body, helps bring an emotionally calm mental state were people can more effectively face the issues that are troubling them.”

“A regular exercise program will help ease a person’s state of worry and they will notice that the confusion they are experiencing brought on by their anxiety will decrease or dissipate,” says Livingstone. “Creating a long lasting feeling of calmness won’t happen overnight, but even just one session of physical exercise will make a person feel happier. Don’t believe me? Try it yourself.”

About Bob Livingstone
Bob Livingstone, LCSW, has been a psychotherapist in private practice for almost twenty years. He works with adults, teenagers and children who have experienced traumas such as family violence, neglect and divorce. He works with men around anger issues and adults in recovery from child abuse. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Redemption of the Shattered: A Teenager’s Healing Journey through Sandtray Therapy and the upcoming The Body-Mind-Soul Solution: Healing Emotional Pain through Exercise (Pegasus Books, Aug. 2007).