SPORT FOR ANXIETY: EXERCISES TO COMBAT IT

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by discomfort and stress and do not know how to deal with it? We tell you the benefits of practicing sports for anxiety and how they are related to each other.

Physical exercise is often used as therapy to reduce anxiety. The release of hormones along with other benefits on a psychological level can lead to a marked improvement in stress levels.

It is curious how, for example, a professional athlete may feel stress due to competition or because their performance worsens, but, on the other hand, exercise helps reduce anxiety and the appearance of negative thoughts.

For people who practice sports occasionally as amateurs, they usually find in physical exercise an escape route to get rid of the stress accumulated during the day. Many people say that it is a moment of disconnection in which they put their thoughts in order and positive energy is recharged.

If you want to know more about this topic, in this article we explain how sport can help you combat anxiety due to its physiological effects.

WHAT IS ANXIETY?

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, anguish, worry or tension, especially about things that may happen in the future. It is a kind of fear that is experienced when you think of the worst and the future is shown as overwhelming and uncertain.

All people experience anxiety at some point, it is a natural response that helps to face certain demands of life such as important changes or stressful events. When anxiety is very intense or prolonged, a medical expert should be consulted to diagnose the case.

Anxiety can develop into a medical problem, known as an anxiety disorder, and can strike people at any time, causing constant fear and worry, for undefined reasons, that can often make normal life difficult. This disorder can affect you in many different ways, with both physical and psychological symptoms.

Among the psychological symptoms caused by anxiety are:

• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Difficult to focus
• Stress

And physical symptoms such as:

• Tiredness
• dizziness
• palpitations
• Muscle tension
• Headache
• Difficulty to sleep
• Stomach ache
• Difficulty breathing
• General discomfort
• Panic attacks

Being all day doing things without stopping ends up taking its toll on mental health. Making a few small changes to daily routines can help slow down and relieve anxiety.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE ANXIETY? FOLLOW THESE 6 STEPS

If you have ever felt stress and discomfort, and you have not known how to manage it well, we give you 6 steps that you can follow to try to calm anxiety when it appears:

1. Drop what you're doing

The first step in controlling an anxiety attack is to stop. Find a place to sit and rest as long as you need. Try to make it a quiet and pleasant place, if it may be well lit.

2. Take a deep breath

Anxiety attacks typically cause rapid breathing. Try to keep a deep and slow breath, little by little you will notice that the tension is going away. You will begin to calm down and you will feel more and more able to control anxiety. If breathing like this makes you more nervous, try something else immediately.

3. Talk to someone you trust

Talking to someone close, like a family member or friend, decreases anxiety symptoms because it breaks the mental discourse that everything is going wrong.

4. Change your focus

Focus your attention on something else, on something other than what is causing your anxiety. Try alternatives like: focus on a smell, look out the window at a fixed point, etc.

5. Relax your muscles

Shortness of breath and anxiety will tense your muscles. Try to relax your whole body as much as possible. Do not tighten your mouth or lips, relax the gesture of the face...

6. Get some exercise

Take a short walk, dance, or do some stretching. Not only will it help you forget about anxiety, but your body will secrete endorphins and you will inevitably feel much better.

HOW DOES SPORT HELP WITH ANXIETY?

The help of a professional in psychology and the support of loved ones is essential to overcome anxiety, but there are options that can also help with this disorder. One of them is sports, which can be focused on managing stress and anxiety.

Many processes related to anxiety and stress involve various hormones responsible for managing the body's response. This response largely depends on how psychologically you identify a situation as threatening. This can cause a number of symptoms ranging from headache to hyperventilation.

In this sense, sport influences the physiological response that causes anxiety, such as: energy mobilization, muscle contraction or increased heart rate.

In addition, doing physical exercise helps to secrete a series of hormones and neurotransmitters that can reduce the effects produced by hormones caused by anxiety. We are talking about endorphins, which are capable of significantly reducing stress and anxiety levels.

In this sense, the practice of sport can be the remedy for a person suffering from anxiety. It can become a space for self-care and even for socializing with other people. A training routine can help you not to think too much about the execution and therefore to carry out the task without too much mental effort.

BENEFITS OF SPORTS FOR ANXIETY

Let’s see below some of the benefits of practicing sports to combat anxiety:

• Generates endorphins and neurotransmitters.
• Focus attention on exercise practice.
• Helps to better manage negative emotions.
• Motivation and self-esteem grow.
• It enhances sleep quality.
• Improves social relations (in case of practicing team sports).

EXERCISES TO FIGHT ANXIETY

As we have already mentioned, it is possible to manage anxiety through the practice of sports. There are exercises that help release serotonin, which helps improve mood and positive thinking. There are also exercises whose main objective is to focus attention on breathing, such as yoga.

The exercises that we propose below can be a complement, but never a replacement for professional therapy. Be sure to see a specialist if you have difficulty managing anxiety.

Some of these exercises and sports to manage anxiety are:

• Run
• Bicycling
• Dance
• Yoga
• To meditate

If you prefer to do sports for anxiety at home, in the ATAA Sports online store we have different fitness machines for spinning, running or walking that will help you combat anxiety and feel better every day.