This semester has been incredibly hard for me, and as a result of it I have noticed my mental health getting worse. Therapy is difficult for me to schedule, so I basically have been on my own for a bit. But from my last therapy session, I remembered my therapist telling me that exercise would help me a lot. And yes, we’ve all heard that exercise is good for your mental health because of the endorphins (especially if you’ve seen Legally Blonde like I have) but I always just brushed it off for some reason. With no other options, I started to take that suggestion more seriously.
Before the semester started, I signed up for the fitness class pass at the Student Life Center at the University of Utah. It was $65, but with that money I get to attend any fitness class I want for the entire semester. Now, I already have access to the gym on campus because I am a student here, but I didn’t really have much motivation to go there, especially since it’s so far up campus and I don’t really want to walk all the way up when I could go home. Plus, I live off campus and in my free time it doesn’t seem worth it to drive all that way to work out. But, with the knowledge that I spent money I can’t get back, I started going to the gym more to attend these classes. I have so far only done three classes: Candlelight Yoga, Zumba, and Cycle 45. Each class has a different level of difficulty, with each one testing different parts of your body. I typically do about 3 classes a week depending on what my schedule is but even with those three classes I have noticed a big change in my mental and emotional health. My favorite class so far is Zumba, which is basically dancing to fun music for about an hour. I have noticed that because my entire body is engaged in this class, and I am listening to fun music, my mood gets lifted a ton and I feel like I’m not just exercising, I’m dancing. Plus I have to really focus on the instructor because they switch up moves so quickly that I can’t afford to let my mind stray to other events in my life, so it gives me an hour of distraction. By the time I leave class, I feel so much lighter and less stressed out about everything going on in my life. And the knowledge that I motivated myself enough to exercise even when I was feeling a bit down makes me feel even better about myself.
Now I know that it might sound overdone to talk about the effects of exercise on your mental health, but believe me when I say what everyone is saying is right. Though it can’t completely replace therapy, it’s a great start to improving your mental health when therapy isn’t an option. It’s up to us to do everything in our power to improve our health, and exercise will help both your mental and physical health. So if you needed your push to be more motivated to work out, here it is. I pushed myself, and I am so grateful I did.