in

Working Out For A Healthier Body And Mind

Read on to find out more about the ways you can exercise to help beat stress and boost your overall health

Ivan Kardakov
Photography by by ©Damir Zhukenov for MMSCENE

Everyone handles stress in different ways. Finding effective coping methods for dealing with stress will help you relax, and keep your body and mind healthy. But sometimes it’s easy to stray into coping methods that could do more harm to your health than good, like turning to alcohol or becoming withdrawn from friends and family.

Adopting healthy responses to stress can help you find relief from difficult situations, helping to preserve your wellbeing. Exercise is one of the ways that many people cope with stress, and is an excellent way to work out your feelings, while also helping you build a healthier body too.

Learn more about the ways you can exercise to help beat stress and boost your overall health.

How does exercise help you beat stress?

It’s well known in the health and fitness community that exercise is an excellent stress reliever. One of the main reasons for this is that exercise produces endorphins, your body’s feel-good hormones, that can help boost your mood, while the release of cortisol will help ease feelings of stress.

Exercise can also shift your focus, giving you the space to think about something else besides what’s making you stressed. When you exercise regularly, your overall wellbeing improves, so working out can help you find a way to take care of yourself, helping to build a better resilience to stress.

Make time for fitness in your daily schedule

One of the easiest ways to use exercise to reduce your stress levels is to make time for fitness in your daily schedule. As a non-negotiable for your health and wellbeing, you should commit to some regular exercise.

Figure out when you benefit the most from exercise. Does it give you a lift in the morning to get you ready for the day ahead? Or do you need it to help you unwind at the end of the day? Whatever option works best for you, make time for it. Soon it will be part of your everyday routine, helping to give you that pick-me-up when you need it.

Ivan Kardakov
Photography by by ©Damir Zhukenov for MMSCENE

Use meditation-based exercises to help you wind down

Not convinced by meditation? There are a lot of experts who might disagree. There have been several scientific studies about the benefits of meditation, that highlight the ways it can help you handle stress and lift your mood. Meditation takes many forms and some of the things you can do to help benefit from it include yoga or breath work. You could even ??combine guided meditation through apps and podcasts with other forms of exercise like running, helping you to empty your mind of the things that are causing stress, so that you can focus on yourself.

Mediation at the end of the day can be an effective way of winding down, ready to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Box away your frustrations

Some energetic exercise can leave you feeling pumped, which can be a great way to beat stress. Boxing is a fantastic exercise to help you work out your feelings, and the physical act of punching something can feel very therapeutic after a tough day. For a stress-free lifestyle: Hayabusa boxing gear can ensure you have everything you need for your boxing sessions. Whether you choose to join a boxing club or simply take part in some boxing-based classes, you’ll feel the difference in your mood from the very first session.

Do something fun

Even though exercise can have an amazing impact on your mood, it can still feel like a chore at times – especially if you’re not a fan of working out. Finding some fun exercises to do can change how you feel about working out, helping you get active, without that feeling of dread you may get going to the gym or going on a run.

There are a lot of fun ways to exercise that will provide some much-needed stress relief. Dancing is something that will be sure to put a smile on your face, or you can try something a little more daring like rock climbing to give you that adrenaline rush that will help you overcome stress.

Damir Zhukenov
Photography by by ©Damir Zhukenov for MMSCENE

Stay focused on a goal or a challenge

When you’re feeling stressed, it can be helpful to find something to take your mind off things. This is where having a fitness goal or challenge can come in handy. Setting fitness goals will help give you a task to focus on, which can be a welcome distraction from a tough job or a stressful home situation.

Some great ideas for goals include:

  • Run a marathon
  • Reach a weight goal
  • Be able to complete x amount of reps for a particular workout
  • Cycle or cross-train your way to a certain distance.
  • Keep up x number of workouts a week.

Your goals will be completely unique to you, helping you stay motivated and on track.

Make it social

While exercise can be great to help you work out your personal stress, it can also be an excellent social opportunity. Being around other people, especially those who are positive and supportive, can have an incredible impact on your mood, helping to melt those feelings of stress away.

Sociable workouts come in a lot of different forms, including team sports, working out with a personal trainer, or a partner workout. This is a fun example of a workout you can try with someone else:

Making plans with other people can help make you more accountable, helping you feel more likely to stick to your routine, You may not feel like going at first, but you’ll be glad you did when it’s over.

Exercise is incredibly important for your mental and physical wellbeing. If you want to find a healthy way of overcoming stress, while focusing on becoming a better you, working out can help. Find an activity you love, that helps you work out those stressful feelings and start seeing the difference it can make to your overall health too.

Images from MMSCENE PORTRAITS: Ivan Kardakov by Damir Zhukenov – See the full story here

Ferran Casanova

MMSCENE PORTRAITS: Summer Flags by Ferran Casanova

Kim Seon Ho

Kim Seon Ho is the Cover Star of Elle Men Singapore