When you get a bout of anxiety, get hit out of the blue with a panic attack, or can’t seem to catch a break from your tasks piling on top of one another, it’s hard to know what to do next. Many of us experience stress every day, but it can lead to debilitating anxiety.  

Worrying and overthinking often overtake our thoughts, and we struggle to think rationally. We also might experience physical symptoms like breathlessness, chest tightening, sweating, sleeping issues, and paranoia. One of the most effective overlooked anxiety remedies, experts suggest, is exercise. But how exactly does exercise help in challenging times?  

Whether you’re stressed about work, overthinking your relationship or feeling worried about an upcoming event, or speaking in public (social anxiety), how do you cope?   

While there are a number of anxiety remedies you can try – meditation, herbs, essential oils, acupuncture, and even medication, nothing is as free, and accessible as movement.  

Numerous studies have concluded that regular aerobic exercise can help to reduce tension and stress, stabilize and uplift mood, improve sleep, and boost self-esteem. After just five minutes, you’ll start to notice a difference in mood and energy.   

Your mind might go straight to an air-conned gym where there are lots of people when you think about exercise, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Find an exercise you like, from skipping to dancing, or even roller-skating. Walking works amazingly to get your heart rate up, as does a dynamic yoga or Pilates flow. Wondering how movement works to help you find more relaxation and balance?  

It helps you focus in the present  

In order to do the workout, your mind is diverted away from ruminating thoughts toward the task at hand. This temporarily stops you from worrying, to bring your stress levels down. It’s a healthy distraction.  

It releases endorphins  

It’s scientifically proven that exercise releases endorphins, your joy hormone, which helps to uplift your mood, quieten negative or racing thoughts, and generally help you to feel lighter and happier.  

Exercise releases chemicals like GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and our own endocannabinoid system (which some people access through the use of CBD to help them feel less stressed and more relaxed.)  

It boosts resilience  

Getting to the end of a tough workout can really boost your self-esteem. It helps you prove to yourself that you can overcome challenges. It strengthens your resilience. In exercise, people often think it’s all about physical boundaries and challenges, but so often it’s about a mental barrier.  

To get through those last reps, that last distance, or that last set, you have to push through a mental barrier to make it happen. We are much more capable than we think we are.   

In that moment of telling yourself you can do it, and getting over it – it’s an exercise for the brain. Your mind will remember it, and future challenges won’t seem as big of an obstacle. It supports your personal development in this way too.  

Pre-workout, intra-workout, and post-workout blends can help to boost energy, strength, and performance in physical activity to give you a helping hand too.  

Movement helps us with decision-making  

If you’re going through a challenging time, feeling stuck, and trying to make a decision, go for a walk or get sweaty with your favorite exercise.  

Arianna Huffington, the founder of The Huffington Post, praises the power of walking. “When I was living in Los Angeles, I discovered that I came up with many of my best ideas while I was hiking. And whenever I could, I would schedule hikes instead of sit-down meetings, with both my friends and HuffPost editors.”  

Of the subjects who took part in a study at The University Of Essex, 94% said that walking, running, cycling, and gardening improved their mental health. Not only that, but studies prove that walking actually improves cognitive function, creativity, scheduling, and planning and it helps us to reconnect with ourselves and the people around us – which can help us to shake off the funk, and to feel less stressed, and happier.  

Exercise helps us to access the part of the brain that challenges the fight-or-flight response to regulate those fears that we all grapple with when we’re experiencing anxious thoughts.  

Time to get your sweat on!  

We live in a society of overwork, burnout, and exhaustion. For many of us, anxiety has increased as a direct result of this always-on mentality, aided by 24/7 internet, technology, and smartphones.   

Sadly, it’s become a normalized part of our existence. We are missing reconnecting with ourselves and the outside world. We’re preoccupied with the technology in front of us and what other people expect from us, that we forget who we are, and what we want.  

When we sit and fester in our own thoughts for extended periods of time, we can feel trapped and claustrophobic. It limits our thoughts and our overall potential. So, this is your reminder, especially if you spend most of your time sitting down, to organize that walk, gym class, dance class, bicycle ride, swim, hike, or home workout you’ve been putting off. Sure, all of the things you’ve been worried about may still be there when you get back, but they might just be that much easier to handle with a clearer mind.