HOW EXERCISE MAKES YOU HAPPY?

Exercise will have a positive chemical effect on your brain reducing stress and improving mood, as well as resulting in lasting positive benefits for the brain and body.

When you simply look at the correlation between people that exercise and happiness, it’s hard to say whether exercise makes one happy or whether happy people tend to exercise more. One study of Stanford University student-athletes actually found that happiness for this group was more a result of their personality and temperament than it was of athletic prowess. However, when we delve deeper into the science, we can see that exercise is a huge contributing factor.

HOW DOES EXERCISE IMPROVE HAPPINESS?

Exercise does a lot of things to the brain. You’ve probably heard of endorphins, right? These are hormones that are produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland within the brain. Their main job is to inhibit the transmission of pain signals, but they also produce a feeling or euphoria. This is what makes you feel happier instantly, and the effects will last a good amount of time.

Endorphins are the only “feel-good” chemicals released through exercising though. Your body will also produce serotonin, norepinephrine, BDNF and dopamine, the reward chemical. All of which have huge positive benefits for the mind. The bottom line: the combination of these five chemicals will boost your mood, and have been proved to help to relieve both anxiety and depression.

“The more difficult the victory the greater the happiness in winning ”

– Wayne Gretzky