Exercise is one of the best anti-anxiety and anti-depression “medicines”. It is free. Improved mood can be felt in as little as 5 minutes. James Blumenthal, PhD, a clinical psychologist of Duke University says “There is good epidemiological data to suggest that active people are less depressed than inactive people.” 
Exercise reduces stress hormones, can assist in producing endorphins (the body’s own mood enhancing chemicals), improves sleep, increases relaxation, and reduces tightness and tension health throughout the whole body.
Clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis, author of Your Next Big Thing: Ten Small Steps to Get Moving and Get Happy, suggests there are three kinds of exercise that help the most to reduce anxiety and depression:
1) Running-reduces food cravings, 5 minutes of running a day might help you live longer according to research done in 2012, has a meditative effect on the brain, and helps people sleep.
2) Walking in the woods-trees and plants emit chemicals that slow down their decay and may slow down people too. A study in Japan compared one group of runners who ran in the city to another group of runners who ran in the woods. The runners who ran in the woods had lower stress hormones. There is a paved bike path along the Clinton River that goes 9 miles from 17 mile through Dodge Park up to River Bends Park, most of it in the woods. There is plenty of wildlife to see along the way. 
3) Yoga-a group of researchers reviewed 35 studies that examined the effects of yoga on anxiety. In 25 of these studies, yoga significantly reduced anxiety and stress. There are an increasing number of yoga studios in Macomb County. A google search showed 4 yoga studios in Clinton Twp alone.
The Mind’s Eye Healing and Meditation Center in Macomb, Mi at 21 mile and Hayes offers yoga classes that include chair yoga, ariel yoga, and slow flow yoga. Asha Yoga Therapy in Clinton Twp offers classes for all levels of yoga students. They offer classes on a donation basis so they don’t have to turn anyone away due to cost. If there is a need, they even offer classes for depression, anxiety, MS, fibromyalgia, arthritis, osteoporosis and back pain.
The internet offers more exercise videos than anyone could have time to watch. HASFit has many different exercise routines for the beginner, seniors, low impact, active aging, muscle building and many more (their name stands for Heart and Soul Fitness) They have been one of the top 10 youtube channels for 4 years. In additions to many work out videos, they have over 70 health and fitness articles. Most relevant to this blog post is their article: “5 brain boosting benefits of exercise” which you can find here:
Recently I discovered a you tube channel called Physical Therapy Video where 2 physical therapists made recommendations. Two videos I thought were especially helpful were 1) scientists 1 minute of this exercise is = to 45 minutes of jogging 2) 7 exercises you should do every single day (these are quick exercises to be done during the day, to reverse the harmful effects of too much sitting and screen time).
Sometimes people are unable to motivate themselves to exercise. Sometimes there are deeper issues under this problem such as lack of self- worth, associated trauma or unconscious desires to stay stuck. Therapy may help in these situations. Feel free to text or call me at 586-799-2399 if you would like a 15 minute free phone consultation.
For more information I help people with anxiety, go here
