How Exercise Can Improve Your Mental Health & Performance

I saw some really interesting research this week about the benefits of exercise on mental performance and ability that I wanted to highlight to you guys.
We hear a lot about how exercise helps us physically and perhaps now a little more about how it helps our mental health but not as much is reported about mental performance.
And as a lot of you guys have mentally demanding jobs and are keen to perform at the highest level, I thought I'd share this with you.
In a new meta - analysis it was found that college students who were more physically active also showed substantially better academic performance.
To give you a better idea of how significant that is, in research, an effect size of 0.8 is considered large and in this meta analysis the effect size was 3.0 meaning it really did have a large positive impact!!
The specific areas it helped with were;

• Mental Health
• Overall Academic Performance
• Cognitive Function
• Memory

It makes complete sense when you think about it. We know that when we suffer mental stress it can affect us physically with symptoms such as IBS, psoriasis, and links to autoimmune conditions.
So it then actually seems quite logical to think that this relationship works both ways and that our physical condition can affect us mentally.
When I look back on my life so far I definitely think there was an association between doing high level gymnastics throughout school and university and being able to perform academically as a straight A student (not to blow my own trumpet!).
And I know more recently I feel mentally sharper and better equipped to keep up with the demands of running a business because I'm in a better routine of pushing myself physically each week with training.
So if you are serious about optimising your mental performance or pushing further ahead in your career, then regular physical training needs to become a part of your weekly routine.

And as an extra bonus as I said before, exercise also does wonders for you mental health by;

• Reducing depression and anxiety:
• Exercise is a well-established treatment option for mild to moderate depression and can effectively manage anxiety symptoms.
• Improving sleep quality:
• Exercise can lead to deeper and better quality sleep, further enhancing mental performance.
• Stress management:
• Engaging in exercise is a proven way to reduce stress levels and improve your ability to cope with the demands of daily life.

I hope this has given you even more encouragement and reasons to add more physical activity into your life….it’s the smart thing to do!!

Lizzie

The One Percent Club