9 Physical Activities for Effective Stress Relief

Imagine that I will offer you an investment plan where you need to deposit $30 every day, but you will get back $60 by the end of the day, plus you get a sizable saving for your retirement! Too good to be true? Well, I can’t do that with your money, but it is completely possible to do with your time. That miraculous investment plan is called exercise.

If you set aside just 30 minutes of exercise every day, you are guaranteed to save at least an hour a day with increased productivity, better energy levels, improved health, less time for sick leaves and better stress control. As a bonus, you get several years of increased life expectancy, not only in the form of added time but also in quality of life. Can you find a better investment than that?

Just in case you are not completely sold at this moment, let’s talk about what exercise will do for your stress control. Physical activity will help to increase the production of the feel-good hormones called endorphins. They are responsible for lifting your mood, increasing your energy levels, strengthening your immune system, and improving your sleep quality. The effects of endorphins is often described as the runner’s high, but any form of exercise will give you these benefits. It will help you to fight depression, anxiety and stress, plus your confidence levels will rise. To maximize the benefits of endorphins, you want to put in an exercise session most every day.

You are surely aware of the many benefits that exercise can bring to your body. A good cardio workout will train your heart to be more efficient and reduce the frequency of the heartbeats at rest. This can help to prevent heart attacks, since the rest between the beats is the only time your heart is able to take a break. Exercise is also helpful to reduce blood pressure, eliminating another common side effect of stress. Not to speak that optimizing circulation will benefit your brain, considering that this small organ of just about 2 pounds is consuming close to 20% of the oxygen circulating in our blood. Plus a well-designed exercise program can help you increase muscle mass and melt away the unwanted belly fat.

What kind of exercise?

When it comes to exercises for stress relief, aerobic exercises are known to have the best stress-busting effects. With aerobic exercises, the heart rate is increased, which causes endorphins to be released in the brain.

Rhythmic activity such as running, walking, jumping rope, bicycling or swimming gives an additional tranquilizing influence on the brain which keeps endorphins flowing. Even after the activity is over, there is a lingering positive impact that continues for several hours afterward. That’s another reason for exercising early in the morning to get your day started on a healthy endorphin high.

When it comes to aerobic exercises to help us relieve stress and anxiety, the best examples are:

Brisk walking: The most straightforward stress-busting exercise is taking a brisk walk. Anxiety experts in the US have reported that walking for 10 minutes can help combat stress and induce calm. It went on to say that a 10-minute walk can be just as effective as a walk of 45 minutes in fighting off stress and anxiety.

Swimming: Swimming is a low-impact exercise that can be done by everyone. It entails a complete body workout and is an excellent activity to help boost the cardiovascular system. It is also a good resistance training routine as water offers more resistance to your movements than air on land. Also, just the fact that you get a refreshing in the pool, will drive your stress away. There is nothing so revigorating as a bath in fresh and cool water. It is an excellent way to reduce stress.

HIIT: This acronym stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It alternates between periods of intense exercise to increase heart rate and short rest periods. It is an excellent way to squeeze in a rigorous workout in a short amount of time. If you don’t overdo it, this is a good option to choose in order to get a good return of investment on a tight schedule.

Cycling: Dust off your bicycle and find a safe place to ride. Look for quiet streets or parks with bike paths. Cycling helps you with a good cardio workout. It also allows you to work out the legs and strengthen joints. In short, pedaling around is good exercise and lets you appreciate your surroundings as you move.

Hiking: If you want a serene activity that is effective in managing stress, then schedule a good hike for the next weekend. As you immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of nature, surrounded by sunshine and fresh air, stress is destined to simply melt away. The rhythmic motion of walking and the opportunity to disconnect from technology can promote relaxation. Additionally, hiking provides a sense of accomplishment and can boost your self-esteem, further contributing to stress reduction. You can do it alone or with friends, making it a great social activity as well.

Pilates: This is an exercise that improves flexibility, being able to reduce tension and stress. It is a more vigorous activity, that takes a high level of concentration to complete each move. If you’re focused on your Pilates movements, you don’t have time to think about stressful things.

Less-intensive physical activities to help release stress

When it comes to exercises for stress relief, intense workouts have always been popular. However, less intense workouts can be just as good to help ease stress and restore calm. Examples of these types of workouts include:

Gardening: Gardening might not come to mind as a physical activity that can help you reduce stress and anxiety, but it has become popular as one way to do so. Gardening is quite physical, as it involves movements such as digging, bending, stretching, and lifting heavy objects. These basic activities can help work out several muscles in the body and elevate the heart rate. While gardening can help us beautify our spaces, it helps to calm the mind in a way that no drug could. And imagine the satisfaction of harvesting some fresh tomatoes for lunch!

Strolling: Like taking a brisk walk, strolling is a good way to reduce stress, only that it is less intense. Strolling along the beach or in the woods can help induce calm for the best stress-busting results. Getting closer to nature can be a great stress eliminator. An immersion in nature means taking a light walk along a beach or out in the woods to slow down and appreciate the simpler things in life.

Stretching: A simple stretching program can relieve stress and anxiety. This makes it possible for you to move your body in the comfort of your own home. You can stretch your muscles your own style or follow along with one of the ample YouTube prescribing you a perfect stretching routine. This helps you to alleviate stress and makes you a lot calmer while focusing on your physical well-being. Be sure to include deep breathing in your stretching routine. And it is always a good idea to warm up with stretching exercises before any other physical activity you consider doing.

What activities to avoid

Although exercise is the perfect thing to reduce your stress levels, there are some activities that can trigger your stress hormones instead of reducing them. Competitive sports involve quite a bit of pressure to win and can actually increase your stress hormones, especially if you tend to be ambitious by nature. Pushing yourself beyond your limit is another form of increasing stress in your life and bring on exhaustion, which may take some time to recover. There is no need to run a marathon to gain benefits from your exercise program.

Be sure to choose an activity that you enjoy. If you are torturing yourself to do the treadmill and you hate it, you will fail to reap the benefits you would gain from another type of exercise you consider to be enjoyable. Speaking about the gym, a noisy environment like the aggressive music they often tend to use at the fitness center is another factor that can be counterproductive in your efforts to control your stress.

There is not one exercise that is a perfect fit for everybody. But with plenty of options around, you will surely find some kind of activity that fits in your schedule, that is right for your fitness level and that you enjoy. No matter what you choose, what counts is that somehow you get going. Find out what fits you best, what you enjoy doing, and go for it. Soon you will know by experience that it is the best investment of your time that you can possibly make.