Exercise, Eating, and Mood

By Kenni Walker, LPC, MS, MBA

With the ongoing stressors of your work, home, and environment, it is no surprise that you will experience symptoms of the emotional twins; anxiety and depression. Like twins, they have distinct characteristics but they come from the same place irrational thinking. Being able to experience a range of emotions is a good thing, however the key is understanding your emotions and being able to let them come and manage them in a constructive way that promotes a stronger and healthier you. One of the most common destructive ways to manage our emotions is to try to control them with food. When we have an emotion that we don't like, we try to get rid of it with food that is easily available to us, which is usually foods that are high in fats and sugar and low in nutrients. In contrast, one of the most effective methods we can use to manage our emotions is physical exercise.

Higher amounts of exercise has been proven to be directly correlated to lower effects of depressive and anxious symptoms. With exercise, endorphins are released to react with the opiate receptors in the brain to give us a sense of relief. In other words, it is the body's natural form of morphine. Just as the goal of the morphine drug is to perceivably alter the intensity of the physical pain we feel, endorphins naturally alter our physical and emotional pain. When we eat food we are getting a false sense of gratification only to be quickly followed by guilt and shame because we ate something unhealthy further entrenching us into a negative tail-spin. Too many negative emotions that consume our everyday cognitions roll out the red carpet for depression and anxiety.

It is important that we look at exercise and psychotherapy as maintenance to combat and challenge these negative and worrisome thoughts that have the propensity to plague us. Combined, these two practices, on a continuous bases, can be a powerful duo to help us physically maintain a chemical balance of releases that promote euphoria and to learn coping skills to deal with emotional challenges with our relationships, among other stressors. The “cherry on top” or the added bonus of regular and consistent exercise is that you will enjoy the way you look. Eating unhealthy foods driven by emotions will give us one outcome, poor wellness and unnecessary weight gain.