How Exercise Eases Anxiety

Anxiety can be overwhelming and cause many physical and emotional side effects.

Studies show that exercise can help manage anxiety.

When you can’t stop worrying, you can’t sleep and you may even feel sick to your stomach. While an anxiety disorder should be monitored and treated by a qualified professional, exercise can be part of an effective treatment plan to help manage your anxiety symptoms.

EXERCISE AND ANXIETY: WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

“Exercise won’t cure anxiety or depression, but the physical and psychological benefits can improve the symptoms,” explains Sally R. Connolly, LCSW, a therapist at the Couples Clinic of Louisville in Kentucky. “Research shows that at least 30 minutes of exercise three to five days a week can significantly make a difference.” Some studies have suggested that regular exercise can help alleviate anxiety as much as medications and the anxiety-relieving effects of exercise may last longer than those of drugs.

EXERCISE AND ANXIETY: WHO BENEFITS

While everyone can reap psychological benefits from exercise, research suggests that people who may see the biggest improvements in anxiety symptoms are those who:

• Exercise consistently for at least several weeks
• Are not already physically active
• Have severe anxiety
• Do aerobic exercise, such as jogging, swimming, or dancing

Exercise has also been shown to be effective in managing symptoms of depression, which frequently affects people with anxiety disorders.

EXERCISE AND ANXIETY: HOW EXERCISE HELPS

“Anxiety is usually linked to an increased heart rate,” notes Connolly. “Exercise can be very helpful with calming people’s heart rates.”

During exercise, your heart rate shoots up, but over time, as your fitness level improves, your heart begins to work more efficiently. As a result, your resting heart rate between exercise sessions eventually becomes slower. Improved heart and lung function due to regular aerobic activity are often associated with a greater sense of overall well-being, which can help offset feelings of anxiety.

Even short bursts of exercise (just 10 to 15 minutes at a time) can improve your fitness and your mood. Connolly recommends that her patients get a total of 30 minutes of exercise a day, which can be broken into 10-minute blocks if necessary, between six and seven days a week.
Exercise can even help prevent anxiety disorders from beginning in the first place. One study showed that regular exercisers were at a 25 percent reduced risk of depression and anxiety disorders over a five-year period. Not surprisingly, exercise has also been found to improve mental clarity and concentration, both of which may be negatively affected by anxiety. Chemicals released in the brain during exercise may help improve the ability to focus and deal with stressful situations, thereby lessening the risk of anxiety and depression.

EXERCISE AND ANXIETY: ANTI-ANXIETY WORKOUTS

Any exercise can help diminish anxiety, but Connolly says aerobic exercise that really gets your heart rate up will be the most beneficial. Some good aerobic exercises that can help manage anxiety are:

• Swimming
• Biking
• Running
• Brisk walking
• Tennis
• Dancing

“Dancing is a great exercise, and it has a lot of other side benefits. And it’s great when you dance with other people,” notes Connolly, since socializing can also boost your mood.
Though not aerobic, yoga can help offset anxiety symptoms. Yoga combines physical movement with meditation and deep breathing to help calm the mind and alleviate worry.

While weight training and other strengthening exercises are important for your overall health, they don’t seem to offer as much anxiety relief as activities that get your heart rate going.

We all know that exercise is good for the body, and now research shows that it’s also good for the mind. In addition to managing your anxiety with a doctor’s help, exercise is a powerful tool you can use to enhance your physical and mental health.

Diana Rodriguez Mar 10

Can Alcohol Derail Your Diet?

It doesn’t have to. Learn how a little moderation and a few simple tricks can allow you to enjoy alcohol without adding too many calories.

Medically reviewed by Niya Jones, MD, MPH. A glass of wine with a weekend dinner or a beer at the family barbecue doesn’t spell disaster for your weight-loss plan unless you overdo it.
Reaching for another drink of alcohol on a regular basis can pile on the pounds, just as bingeing on cookies or chocolate might. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), nearly two-thirds of all adults drink some amount of alcohol. The percentage of calories from alcohol in the typical daily diet ranges between 3 percent and 6 percent for men and 1 percent to 4 percent for women. That may not sound like a lot, but when you are watching your weight, every calorie counts.

ALCOHOL AND WEIGHT GAIN: DO THE MATH

“Alcohol does add up in calories,” says Donna L. Weihofen, RD, MS, health nutritionist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “When I am trying to really watch my weight, I watch what I drink.”

Weihofen recalls giving up her signature drink, a Southern Comfort Old-Fashioned, for wine to cut calories, and then moving toward wine spritzers, a mix of wine and club soda, to cut the calories in half. Now she says she is often happy with a club soda and a twist of lime.

If you’re wondering how your favourite alcohol stacks up, check out the approximate numbers:

• Light beer, 355ml, 90 to 110 calories
• Regular beer, 355ml, 150 calories
• Red wine, 148ml, 120 to 150 calories
• Rum or whiskey, 44ml, 98 calories
• Gin, 44ml, 120 calories
• Vodka, 44ml, 98 calories

Stopping with just one drink keeps the calorie count down, but if you are drinking alcohol every night, you could easily put on at least a pound over the course of a month. It’s also important to remember that the total calories in your drink include any additions to the alcohol, the fruit juice, mix, or soda in your cocktail counts too!

ALCOHOL AND WEIGHT GAIN: HOW TO CUT BACK ON CALORIES

National dietary guidelines recommend women drink no more than one alcoholic drink a day and men no more than two. While some studies suggest that a glass of alcohol, such as red wine, may help your heart, recent data shows that the benefit may actually be reversed when you reach for a second glass, yet another reason to drink only in moderation.

One way to cut back on your alcohol intake may be to change the shape of the glasses you use. An interesting study of 198 college students and 86 bartenders demonstrated that, even when they had previously been shown the exact measure of a serving of alcohol, both groups tended to pour more into short, wide glasses than tall, thin glasses (even bartenders with more than six years of experience). So when you are planning to make yourself a special cocktail treat, you can maintain your diet by reaching for a tall, thin glass.

HERE ARE SOME ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR ENJOYING ALCOHOL WITHOUT THE WEIGHT GAIN:

• Drink water or another no-calorie drink between alcoholic beverages.
• Cut calories where you can. A wine spritzer instead of wine, light beer instead of regular.
• Save alcohol for special occasions.
• Budget the calories into your diet and limit your alcohol servings.
• Do your research before eating out. If you know the calorie count of that monster margarita at your favourite restaurant before you order, you might think twice.

Source: EveryDay Health - Madeline Vann