Lifting weights and being active in general should both be necessities in your life. Muscle conditioning and strength are very important for an individual’s overall health and well being. Being “strong” helps with many day to day things, and having good lung and heart conditioning, also known as having good cardio, makes life much more enjoyable.
Being tired after walking up a simple flight of stairs, or not being able to move something in a dire situation is not what someone should strive for their physical health to be. Being physically more fit will prolong your life expectancy drastically.
According to an article by PubMed, “Results of 13 studies describing eight different cohorts suggest that regular physical activity is associated with an increase of life expectancy by 0.4 to 6.9 years.”
The Mental health benefits of being active are just as beneficial as the physical. As someone who has consistently lifted for three and a half years, I know for a fact how important lifting is for my own mental health.
There are many benefits in many different areas with your mental health while lifting and staying active. There is the “ego” that some people don’t have and are extremely insecure with their own physical appearance. Having self confidence and an ego to an extent is great for your own mental health because you should love yourself and how you look. Even if you don’t love where you are at that moment with how you look, you can still see progress. If the progress isn’t exactly visible, you still have the satisfaction that you’re staying consistent and that is enough progress in itself. All of these are very beneficial to mental well being.
Another positive is the confidence you can gain. Not being afraid to take your shirt off around people, feeling like you have a chance and can approach someone you like, and not having to wear oversized clothing to try and “hide” how you look are all positives of lifting and staying active.
The most important and guaranteed benefit of lifting and being active is the natural release of your “feel good hormones.” Serotonin is a drug that your brain naturally produces to regulate your mood, sleep, digestion, helps blood clot and makes sure wounds heal, and most importantly, controls your happiness.
Cleveland Clinic says, “When serotonin is at normal levels, you feel more focused, emotionally stable, happier and calmer. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression. Many medications used to treat anxiety, depression and other mood disorders often target ways to increase the level of serotonin in your brain.”
The “runner’s high” is a direct correlation to how serotonin makes you feel when experiencing harsh physical activity. I experience this feeling after every difficult workout I endure. I could be having a horrible day, but by the end of the lift or run, I feel amazing and as positive as ever.
I asked multiple friends who have lifted just as long or longer than me to see if they agreed. This is what they had to say about lifting and playing sports and staying active and how it benefits their mental health and life in general.
“I feel like lifting has made ordinary tasks easier and has made stressful situations easier to deal with,” Senior Gale Hargrove said. “Lifting, especially early in the morning, has had a huge impact on my mental health. It brings me a lot of joy, and gives me something to look forward to daily.”
“I love lifting,” Senior Ethan Dudgeon said. “Anytime I ever feel down, I go get a pump and I always feel way better after. It makes me super happy.”
Why take medicine and try to fight our sadness in unnatural ways when you can naturally alter how you feel and change your own outlook on life by just going and exercising. If you have been feeling sad or not yourself lately, consider going and doing some sort of physical activity.
