Mental health has been such a hot topic, as October was Mental Health Awareness Month. While it was great to share stories during the month, we also know that mental health is an all-year-round struggle for many. For this very reason, we wanted to keep the conversation going and look at ways to prioritize yourself and your mental health journey, as we approach the end of the year and the festive season chaos ahead.
Mental health benefits of exercise:
- Stress reliever – exercising can help to relieve stress by offering a release of negative emotions such as anger and anxiety.
- Better mood: Exercising will help you feel better as it is an outlet for suppressed aggression. The relaxation element will make you feel happier and more at ease.
- Better sleep – if you have trouble sleeping, exercising will help you to exhaust your physical body, which in turn will help you have more hours of sleep, and in addition it will improve your quality of sleep overall.
- More energy – coupled with increased relaxation and better sleep, exercising will also help you have more energy throughout the day.
- Boost of confidence – exercising gives you a sense of achievement, whether it be as a result of your body getting stronger, or bigger or smaller or simply the feeling of knowing that you made it to your workout that day, you leave feeling more accomplished which can boost your confidence and self-esteem.
Exercises to try for their mental health benefits:
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Padel
Padel has become all the rage with around 100,000 active padel players in South Africa and this number is growing rapidly with every new padel court popping up. As it is a fairly new, trendy sport, padel courts are just about everywhere with some situated both indoors and outdoors, so you have no excuse not to join even when the weather is not being kind. I’ve been told that it is relatively easy to participate in padel, even if you are a beginner and the costs of joining are at a minimum too as padel doesn’t require too much equipment – simply get your padel, some comfortable clothes and a pair of Hi-Tec Padel-AC shoes and you’re good to go. After visiting a padel court at The Bay Hotel in Cape Town, I saw how padel is such a family-friendly sport too. The social element of sport is what ends up keeping us motivated to keep going and I saw many parents on the courts, with their kids playing around the court. Parents can still keep an eye on their kids while enjoying a little breather.
Image credit: supplied
2. Swimming
Swimming is the perfect sport for those who don’t care for the social element of sport or exercising. Most days I prefer swimming because it gives me a minute to silence my thoughts and most days it’s just me and the water. I can still continue exercising if I don’t have a partner and it is low-intensity making it perfect for someone with back or leg injuries or even for the more mature individual.
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