If you’re a big fan of improving your mental health treatment and leaning into holistic health therapies overall, you’ll want to know more about improving your exercise. From rock climbing, weightlifting, to biking on the regular exercise therapy is now being used to treat a variety of issues without a prescription. No matter what your background is, what your current fitness level is, or how old you are there is a form of exercise that will be effective and enjoyable for you. Let’s dive in to how exercise therapy works for patients what how you can get involved. If you happen to live in a warmer state, it’ll help to know about some free activities in Phoenix Arizona and other areas that can boost your exercise experience
What Is Exercise Therapy
Believe it or not, exercise therapy is a great way to get moving and get on the road to better health overall. It’s a form of mental health treatment with a plan of physical activities that are catered to the client and prescribed for their specific therapy goals. For a long time, exercise therapy has been prescribed by doctors around the world. Unlike taking a form of medicine with sometimes uncomfortable side effects, exercise helps to build a stronger mind, body, and sense of self throughout the process. It also requires a level of time and commitment from the client so they are truly dedicated to getting better from start to finish. If you want to get involved with exercise therapy, you’ll have to make sure that you are being guided by a professional with an educational background in exercise science, exercise physiology, or another similar degree. Just gaining therapy from someone with a NASM or ACE certification won’t be enough since that person might not enough how to apply exercise to healing specific mental health issues. These labels often only take a few months of training and a single test to become “certified” and are only a mark of experience that is enough to become a personal trainer.
Benefits Of Exercise Therapy
Most people who participate in exercise therapy benefit from a variety of mental and physical benefits. After following a consistent training regime and staying with a generally healthy diet, they can improve their sensory functions, feel a stronger self of confidence, reduce their use of previous medications, feel higher energy levels, and hopefully gain a better level of health overall. According to many mental health and holistic health researchers who analyzed the results of many published studies, exercise acts almost like a magic drug for people who suffer from anxiety, depression, insomnia, and even PTSD.
Suffering from depression myself in early high school, I can speak to the depth to which exercise helped me climb out of my mental rut. As a freshman in high school, I felt severely depressed and couldn’t focus at all in class. My grades were falling, my emotions cycled up and down, and my social life took a hit as I couldn’t behave as myself anymore. Even though I couldn’t pinpoint why I was feeling that way, nearly everyone I talked to about my problems told me that medications would help heal my body. At the same time, I loved running and was part of my school’s varsity cross country team.
After talking to a holistic counselor who preached about using medications as a last resort, I was advised to exercise at least one hour every day to release stress from my body and sleep better at night. Practices were a form of exercise for me, but clearing my mind away from people was the key to run through my internal dialogue. In fact, her advice was the best thing I could hear since I then started running every day and was able to independently meditate outside of my daily morning practices. After three months of consent exercise and cleaning up my diet, my symptoms of depression slowly faded away without any medicated form of mental health treatment. I also followed a habit of doing active mindfulness meditation throughout the day by calming my mind for a few minutes every morning and night. The journey was long and definitely had tougher days, but I couldn’t be more proud of myself for being able to naturally rebuild my mind and body from that point in time. Today, I avidly follow a weight lifting schedule since it helps me feel empowered and build up muscle. Even if you aren’t a fan of swing dumbbells, there’s a form of exercise that’s perfect for you out there and can likely help you turn your darker days around.
Take Exercise Therapy Outside
The great thing about working out is that you can do it anywhere and anytime you’re awake. If you happen to live close to an amazing gym, get a pass and try a few new workouts with a buddy that you haven’t tried before. Having a friend to figure out new machines and movements is great if you’re afraid of embarrassing yourself. If you hate being inside and love being around nature instead, take your workout to the mountains by hiking, kayaking, or even running if you love a good cardio session. Warmer states provide amazing outlets for exercise, especially with the many free activities in Phoenix Arizona, fitness events in Los Angeles, and community gyms in areas like Houston or Dallas. Never be afraid to get your blood pumping and build connections with people who can help you reach your health goals!