Today I am going to look into the impact of loss of exercise and routine has contributed to the mental health crisis we are experiencing today. While this ties into the impacts of COVID-19, as that is a main reason for the loss of exercise and routine, I feel as it has enough differences to have its own post.
The benefits between exercise and mental health are well known in today’s culture, however what is less talked about is the effects we see when people lose their exercise.
Obviously during Covid, we saw everything shut down, even the gyms. While the gyms are back open now, the shutting down almost certainly kicked some people out that have not been back since.
According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise releases “feel good” hormones that enhance a sense of well being. Exercise also does a great job of getting out of the cycle of negative thoughts that people with these mental illnesses face.
While we all realize the benefits these could bring if someone started to exercise, taking these escapes away is severely detrimental to our youth population. Especially as lifting has become a norm to deal with these issues.
Another detriment is that exercising was a part of people’s routines pre-covid, routines that were completely overhauled when the pandemic started. Routines are a crucial part of healthy habits for people struggling with mental health issues.
Routines have shown irrefutable evidence to help a wide range of depressive, bipolar, and substance abuse issues. First, according to the American Psychology Association (APA) routines can ease bipolar symptoms, the same is also true with depressive disorders.
Furthermore, routines are one of the best ways to get and stay off drugs, according to the American Addiction Center.
Routines also are a long-term benefit, if you can manage to get a person struggling with a depressive disorder into a healthy routine, there is almost a guaranteed amount of progress they will see. It helps make people feel productive, reduces anxiety, and promotes more healthy habits.
While to a normal person this may seem like an easy thing to do, it is quite the contrary. It can be difficult to even get out of bed for people with these disorders, let alone go through a full day routine. However, by implementing small things that you do everyday without thinking, they will eventually add up to a routine that you can use for the foreseeable future.
Hello Alex! I can confirm that the pandemic definitely forced my family and I to adapt exercise-wise. Luckily, my family invested in an exercise bike and was able to continue keep up healthy habits for the most part, but I definitely recognize how easy it was to simply not go back to the gym or exercise. The thing is that gym routines always feel like hassle to start, but once you get started, it gets a lot easier. I always see quite a direct correlation between how much I exercise and how I am mentally, so I relate with what you said about that.