Bipolar Disorder and Exercise. Why it helps.
There are a few technical reasons:
1. It increases serotonin
2. It creates endorphins
There are also tons of health reasons that I’m sure you know.
But did you know that exercise helps depression for one psychological reason?
When you get one thing done, such as taking a short walk, your brain finds it a lot easier to get the next thing done. Exercise cuts down on depression brain resistance! How can your brain tell you that you never get anything done and that you’re a failure if you just exercised! You have duped the brain and that is a secret to managing the illness.
I have 50 ways to get things done in my book Get it Done When You’re Depressed. I use them all. That is how I write my books even when I’m crying from the stress. We can get things done when we’re depressed, we just have to bypass our ill brains and exercise is one of the best ways to do this.
One of my favorite strategies in the book is to Think Like an Athlete. I use that tip a lot! I just wrote a blog about exercise and how it helped me manage a pretty bad anxiety mood swing!
Julie Fast
PS: I just read this blog post again as I posted it and I am going to take a walk. I’m rapid cycling and a walk can help that. It sure if frustrating to be up for a few hours and then to go down. The exercise will definitely help.
