Endorphins and Exercise

Endorphins are a hormone produced in the body to help deal with pain. They act on the body in a fashion similar to morphine and help to relieve pain and stress, and can go a long way to helping a person get over the feelings of depression. As such, it would stand to reasons that if a person is depressed, or stressed that causing an endorphin release would help to relax them.  There are many ways to release endorphins, but the method that has the most over all benefits is exercise.

Endorphins and Exercise.
When you exercise you cause physical stress to be placed on your body, in some cases you may cause minor damage in the form of microscopic tears in your muscle tissue, don't worry this is normal. To counteract the effects of the physical stress and minor damage your body releases endorphins to manage the pain and allow you to keep going. The endorphins, however, also act to reduce stress in general, and to give you a more upbeat mood. The harder and longer you work out the better you will end up feeling. Anyone who has ever known a runner can tell you that a person at the end of a run seems really high on life, the reality is they are actually high on endorphins (and a few other hormones). That is where the term 'Runners High' comes from. So for a person who is depressed, or in a stressful situation in life, regular exercise will help to keep your system supplied with endorphins which in turn will help you to feel better emotionally.
Regular exercise also helps your body to physically work out tension in your muscles, as well as keeping your cardiovascular system healthy. Which in turn will make you feel better physically which contributes to an overall feeling of health and well being.

A little here, A little there, Adds up quickly!
A lot of people, myself included get discouraged when trying to start a new exercise routine, especially after having been sedentary for a while. Most people will look at the people they see on TV or the gym and assume that if they can run for an hour on the treadmill at full speed, then I can do it as well. After ten to fifteen minutes of trying, they are hurting, gasping for breath, and feel sick to their stomach. The reality is it takes time to work up to that level, and no one who is at the gym started out doing what they are currently doing. The best advice I can give you is to pick something small that you enjoy doing, and do that for ten to fifteen minutes a day at a pace that allows you to continue. This means that if you choose walking for example, you walk at a pace that allows you to walk for ten minutes without wearing you out. That will probably mean you may have to take a slower pace at first but with regular practice you will be able to start moving faster for longer periods of time.  It's more important to be able to do the exercise every day, then it is to be able to do one high speed, high power, show off session.

Variety is the spice of life!

It's not always possible, but if you can manage it try to do a different exercise every day. Every exercise effects your body differently, even walking, jogging, and running, all of which are basically the same movement, will each have a very different effect on your body. Walking on a flat surface and walking on a path that has a lot of hills and inclines will also have a different effect on the body. The more you vary your routine the more benefits you will see from the time you put into your work out, and the more endorphins you will release. Some of the easy to do exercises can be walking, jogging, and running, swimming, bike riding, dancing, lifting weights, and martial arts. You can even use your stair case in your house as an exercise machine, just walk up and down the stairs a few extra times. But exercise does not always have to be this structured, cleaning your house, gardening, mowing the lawn, even playing sports all counts as exercise and will all release endorphins and help you to feel better.

Today is the best day to start.
As with all things the first day is the hardest, so why not get it over with now? All it takes is a few minutes a day to start feeling better, you don't have to turn into a gym rat, just go for a brief walk, clean the house a bit, anything as long as you are moving will cause your body to release endorphins and help you to feel better!

Good Luck!