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Is Exercise Making You Feel Worse?

by: Chris Green

You're right, the headline is a very strange one! Exercise
is vital to maintain good health and most of the time, the
benefits of exercise far out-weigh the drawbacks. But if you
suffer from a stressful or a depressive illness, exercise
can actually make you feel worse. But how can this be?

I'm sure you've heard the following statement over and over
again: exercise can help you to beat stress, or alleviate
anxiety or boost a depressed mind. This is only true in
part. Because many exercises can actually worsen these
illnesses. And even if you perform exercises that can help,
these exercises will only help temporarily.

The reason many people believe exercise to be helpful in
combating stressful and depressive illnesses is because when
you exercise vigorously for longer than 20 minutes, your
body floods with endorphins. These chemicals give us a buzz,
and this is why it is widely believed that exercise can cure
stress, depression or anxiety.

If you're suffering a stressful or depressive episode,
you'll know that no matter how regularly you exercise, the
bad feelings return. The only way to beat these illnesses is
to treat the root cause: flawed modes of thinking.
Exercise, though great for our bodies, simply doesn't do
anything to address modes of thinking.

When my anxiety was at it's worst back in 2000, I exercised
4 times a week. For 2 days, I'd perform weight-training
exercises. These exercises are the type of exercise that can
actually make you feel worse because you have time to think
about all of the issues and problems you have in your life
at the time. I'd also warm up and warm down on bike machines
or cross-trainers. Again, you can perform these exercises
easily so you can think about your problems.

For my other workouts, I'd perform instructor-led circuit
training sessions. As you're listening out for instructions
and performing sequences of exercises at a high tempo, you
don't have time to dwell on your troubles and worries. The
problem is that once you stop exercising, you return to the
modes of thinking which lead to stress, depression or
anxiety.

As soon as my workout had finished, I'd perform the flawed
modes of thinking, modes that made me anxious and depressed.
Exercising did very little � if anything � to stop me
performing these flawed thought processes.

Do be aware of what's happening when you exercise. Exercises
that don't require much concentration may have you brooding
over your troubles as you perform them. Jogging, walking,
exercise machines, weight-training are all examples of such
exercises. Instead, try ones that are more intensive or
competitive so your whole concentration is required.
Circuit-training worked for me, so did sports like soccer
and badminton.

The idea is to give yourself a period of time where you're
not thinking about your problems and worries. And of course,
you'll do your body a whole heap of good too!

The point here is to understand that exercise can only
provide temporary relief. The only way to find permanent
relief from your suffering is to understand and address
flawed modes of thinking. And, just as physical exercise
benefits our bodies, mental skills leading to better modes
of thinking will bring enormous benefits to our minds.

The following quote sums it up in a nutshell:

"Thought can make you, thought can break you."
- Swami Sukhabodhanada

Until next time.

About the author:
Looking to beat stress, anxiety or depression QUICKLY?
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secrets so you can beat these illnesses once and for all
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Mom's Job Stress May Spread to Kids
by: Rita Jenkins

Low job satisfaction in working mothers increases the stress levels of their children, but allowing them to spend more time in childcare can help overcome these effects, according to new research published in Developmental Psychobiology.

Children whose mothers found their jobs emotionally exhausting or otherwise less rewarding had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than children whose mothers reported more enjoyment from their jobs, researchers found in a study involving more than 50 nursery school children.

Levels of cortisol in the evening were more than double in the children whose mothers experienced less job satisfaction. Placing those children in childcare would help to significantly reduce their stress, the research suggests.

The researchers also found that children from families that were either highly expressive or very reserved exhibited higher than average cortisol levels.

Greater support is needed for working mothers to help improve their job satisfaction and increase the availability of affordable childcare options, says the report.

More Time in Childcare

Dr. Julie Turner-Cobb, a health psychologist and senior lecturer at the University of Bath, Dr. Christina Chryssanthopoulou from the University of Kent and Dr. David Jessop, a neuroimmunologist at the University of Bristol collaborated on the study.

To measure cortisol levels, they took saliva samples in the morning and evening from 56 children aged three to four years old. They also surveyed mothers about their workplace conditions and home life over a six month period.

"Spending more time in childcare makes a big difference to the stress levels in children whose mothers have low job satisfaction," says Dr. Turner-Cobb.

"It can help protect children from the effects of their mother's low job quality and emotional exhaustion. Ensuring that mothers of young children have good support in the workplace is essential for supporting both mothers and their children," she adds.

"Improving the job satisfaction of working mothers means that they are less stressed themselves," says Dr. Jessop, "and extending the availability of affordable and adequate childcare may not only improve the quality of life for the mothers but, in doing so, may improve the long term health of their children."

Healthy Adaptation to Stress

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function and immune function. It also controls the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Cortisol secretion increases in response to stress, whether physical -- such as illness, trauma, surgery or temperature extremes -- or psychological. It is a normal and essential response without which we would not be able to function in everyday life.

When these levels remain high or become disrupted in some way over a prolonged period of time, however, they may have consequences for health. It is important to promote healthy adaptation to stress in children, and good quality childcare is one way of doing this, say the authors.

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