Stress, Anxiety and Exercise

As many of us move towards the more stressful time of the year (exams, work deadlines, assignments etc.) it is important to remember the positive effect physical activity can have on brain function and mental health.

Daily physical activity can provide a low-cost regimen to boost brain power and combat cognitive declines in memory, executive function, visuospatial skills and processing speeds. In a nutshell, this is achieved in 3 key ways:

• Increased blood flow. With an increased blood circulation, there is a greater amount of glucose (brain's #1 fuel source) and oxygen getting to the brain, helping us to think clearer and make better decisions.

• It increases the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory. It also increases the connections between the nerve cells in the brain (neuroplasticity). This improves your memory and helps protect your brain against injury and disease (Bherer, Erickson & Liu-Ambrose, 2013).

Exercise can also help to alleviate symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, often caused by an increase in workload. Minimal doses (30mins) of moderate intensity aerobic and resistance training have both been proven to help with these mental health conditions. Endorphins released into the brain help to reduce our perception of pain, triggering a positive feeling in the body (similar to that of morphine), thus reducing the symptoms of the above conditions (Anderson & Shivakumar, 2013; Gordon, McDowell, Lyons & Herring, 2017; Garber, 2017).

So next time you're planning your attack on the workload, don't forget to structure in some regular exercise.