Is Your Fitness Your Happiness?

Everyone wants to be happy.

To many people, happiness means being at peace with yourself and your loved ones. Therefore, the key to happiness is working on a healthy relationship with yourself. To develop this relationship, we often assume the areas to focus on are our minds and hearts.

However, physical health, including fitness and exercise, also significantly impacts our level of happiness. This story examines the relationship between fitness and happiness to help you connect the two and achieve your health goal.

Does Fitness Mean Deprivation?

When someone decides to “get fit,” they often assume that their happiness only comes when they reach their fitness goals. So what are your fitness goals? It may be losing a certain number of pounds or performing an athletic feat like running a marathon or never-ending counting calories.

Transformative goals like these are often grueling and can feel like punishments on our bodies and our minds. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

If you want to reset your mental health experience and make space for happiness, incorporating fitness into your daily life in a way that invites positive energy and lasting results.

Exercise shouldn’t hurt; it should heal.

It can be easy to miss out on the connection between getting fit and getting happier. Going through a fitness journey can be a fun and fulfilling experience. Exercise shouldn’t hurt; it should heal. Unfortunately, many people jump in too fast to exercising, especially if they haven’t worked out in a while.

If you haven’t run in years and you go out for a six-mile jog, you’re going to be sore afterward. So instead, try to find the right approach to starting a healthy lifestyle in a way that feels rewarding to your body instead of punishing.

For examples.

Walking half a mile for two to three days per week and increase as your body tells you.

Fitness equals personal development.

Personal development takes many forms, and looking after your fitness and physical health is a great way to enhance your overall mood. Instead of approaching a quest to increase your fitness as a chore, try treating it as an opportunity for personal growth.

Eating healthily doesn’t have to mean that you will be hungry and sad. Likewise, exercising regularly doesn’t have to feel like a punishment. Instead, you can create a path to physical health that is fun, rewarding, and a source of happiness.

For example.

Do you like dancing or gardening, cooking, or walking? Use each one of these exercises as a time of self-reflection — personal growth.

Exercise Boosts Your Mood

The positive links between exercise and mental health have been studied extensively. For example, the Journal of Happiness Studies research found that even small amounts of exercise such as a 10-minute workout can positively impact happiness.

Similarly, the Annals of Behavioral Medicine published a study recommending that older adults stay active due to the evidence of enhanced psychological well-being that results from an active lifestyle.

Studies like these often perform their analysis based on interviews with participants before, during, and after introducing exercise into their lives. Participants are asked a series of questions to understand whether they feel happier, healthier, and have a more positive outlook on life. In addition to these qualitative findings, there is also research to support the measurable positive impacts of physical activity.

Exercising releases endorphins, which make us happier. Endorphins are pain-relieving and stress-relieving chemicals that our bodies produce when we exercise. These chemicals make us feel less stressed.

If you ever have a particularly stressful day at work, try going for a run or a brisk walk once you get home. You might find that physical activity calms you down and resets your perspective on things.

Stress is an obvious cause of unhappiness. No one likes experiencing the clenched stomach, racing mind, and frazzled nervous system that happen when you get stressed out. So burning off the negative energy that builds up when stressed is a great way to combat it. But then, once you’ve attacked the physical aspects of stress, you’ll find that your approach to happiness will be easier.

Our bodies are built to release endorphins under these circumstances. They are an easy, free, and fun way to practice self-love. Take yourself for a walk any time you are feeling down, and the endorphins will help you get back to feeling like yourself.

Diet Can Help Your Happiness

Food can bring immediate comfort in times of trouble. For example, ice cream is often a great way to start feeling better if you feel sad. However, it is important to remember that the mental boost from eating something tasty yet unhealthy will be short-lived.

Yes, the ice cream will taste good. But the long-term impacts of a healthy diet will deliver a lot more benefits to your overall level of happiness.

The Mayo Clinic’s Handbook for Happiness recommends that eating a healthy diet is a great way to having a healthy mind. The saying “you are what you eat” has been used for decades, but it is a useful reminder when debating between the immediate boost you will get from binging on junk food versus the long-term boost you will get from a healthy lifestyle.

Fitness Helps You Avoid Illness

A healthy lifestyle that includes being physically and mentally fit can also help you avoid several types of illness. According to the CDC, physical activity can help improve your health to such a degree that you have a better chance of avoiding many diseases such as heart issues, diabetes, and many more.

Any chronic disease can become a huge inhibitor to happiness, as stress levels immediately increase as you try to manage the illness. Being fit and healthy is the best approach to avoiding situations like these, and therefore is another reason how fitness can help you get and stay happy.

What is your view on personal fitness and happiness?

Remember:

The link between fitness and happiness is strong.

If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, or just feeling down, incorporating regular exercise and a healthier diet into your life is a great way to get back to feeling like yourself — happiness.

Happiness is not just a feeling; it is an overall state of being. Happiness exists in your whole person, whole body, and whole self — healthy living/fitness.

Help yourself grow.

References: https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/physical-activity.htm

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/healthy-habits-that-boost-happiness/art-20267401