Think back to when you were a kid and movement was instinctive β and often infused with pure joy.
Maybe it was racing your sister and dad to the front door. Or jumping on the bed with friends during a sleepover. Or playing a team sport. Or riding your bike around the park.
For many, the link between movement and joy was severed and forgotten somewhere along the road to adulthood, displaced by the realities and responsibilities of daily life. Movement might have been transformed into something more obligatory β we must do it to optimize our health or get in shape. Or it might have become too time-consuming. For some, it might even have become painful due to injury, disease or the passage of time.
But we abandon movement at our own peril and at risk of our well-being. Studies have found that movement β and its more challenging and intentional cousin, exercise β is not only beneficial for physical health but is also .
βI always say that exercise is like an intravenous dose of hope,β psychologist told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his podcast recently. βAnd itβs any form of movement that youβre willing to do with any part of your body that you can still move.β
McGonigal is the author of βThe Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage.β A group fitness instructor and a lecturer at Stanford University, she has used movement and exercise throughout her life to manage her own anxiety and depression.
McGonigal said exercise allows for the creation and release of βhopeβ molecules, , during muscle contractions β for example, when we work out or even just move around. Some of these myokines can have antidepressant effects.
βOur muscles do more than just move our bones around or stabilize our skeleton,β she said. βOur muscles are almost like endocrine organs. They manufacture these molecules that they can release into the bloodstream that then travel around and affect all of our organs. And some of them can cross the blood-brain barrier and affect your brain, including your mood and your mental health and your brain health.β
Exercise enables you to see your body as an ally, according to McGonigal.
βI think this is one of the coolest bits of the science of movement and exercise, particularly because of how it allows us to feel like our body is our friend,β she said. βItβs our partner, not something weβre trying to fix or control through movement.β
McGonigal said many other brain chemicals get released during exercise that can affect someoneβs state of mind, resulting in, for example, a runnerβs high, a flow state and even euphoria.
βThereβs actually a lot of different kind of brain states you could experience in movement; itβs not one βthing,ββ she said. You can listen to .
What can you do to tap into joy during exercise and movement? McGonigal has these five tips.
Head out into nature.
βWe know that mindful forms of movement, as well as moving outdoors in nature, tends to put the brain in a state of this heightened awareness to the present moment that feels like vitality and connection to life,β McGonigal said. βPeople often feel a relief from inner chatter and stress and worrying. β¦ Itβs changing which systems of the brain are most active and putting you in a state thatβs like meditation.β
Queue up your favourite playlist and get moving.
βIf youβre doing a workout where youβre listening to music you love thatβs high energy, youβre moving to the beat, and youβre doing things that really get your heart rate up β¦ it often is more like euphoria,β she said. βYou feel incredible, and youβve got those endorphins, and that brain chemistry also really helps you feel connected to other people.β
Being social helps you exercise.
βMake movement social. We know that people form friendships and communities of support through movement, whether itβs strength training or running,β McGonigal said.
These days, who couldnβt use another friend or source of support?
Exercise also helps you be more social.
βPeople who exercise, they report being less lonely, they report having better relationships with others and β for reasons that range from the biochemical and how the brain chemistry of exercise primes you to be more social β to be able to connect with others better,β McGonigal said.
βIf you are socially anxious and you exercise, by the end of that workout, youβre going to be almost like a more extroverted version of yourself.β
Find something you really like doing.
βThink about positive experiences youβve had with movement in your life,β McGonigal said. βMaybe go back to something that you miss or find a new way to do it.β
While you are moving, find ways to appreciate your body for being able to move, as opposed to monitoring it.
Adopt a βmindset switch of, βWow, body β that was incredible!β Or βThank you, body, for having the energy to let me do this,ββ McGonigal said.
We hope these five tips help you tap into joy through movement. Listen to the full episode . And join us next week on the Chasing Life podcast when Dr. Gabor MatΓ© speaks about how past trauma affects present-day health.
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