Motivation to Move More

Whatever your personal reasons may be for ramping up your exercise game—from wanting to look hot for your upcoming summer beach trip to simply lowering your risk for disease—the benefits of exercise for your physical health and mental well-being can’t be overstated. In this blog, we’ll just touch upon a couple of broad points to get you moving more and feeling more inspired that the time, energy and effort that you put toward working out is well worth it both for the short-term and for your long-term health. You’re already aware that regular exercise conditions your lungs, improves your immune system, stimulates the nervous system, heart, and blood vessels, enabling them to deliver oxygen to muscle cells more rapidly and efficiently. That’s because each time you exercise your body goes through physical, mental, metabolic, and hormonal processes that affect your organs and entire body. In short, your body adapts to the demands and becomes more efficient.  

 Exercise also affects nearly all of the dozens of hormones your body produces. Hormones are released into your bloodstream and act on specific sites. Let’s look briefly at two of these chemical hormones released by the brain, epinephrine, norepinephrine, endorphins and others. Some of these hormones such as cortisol is the “fight or flight” hormones that is released when your body is preparing for a stressful situation such as “running a way from a bear.” (My previous blog about fear and anxiety discussed this physiological response.) What you may find interesting to know is that these hormones such as testosterone also play a key role in promoting physical changes while you exercise. Other hormones may include adrenaline and noradrenaline which may affect the metabolic processes within your body. One of the many functions of norepinephrine, a popular neurotransmitter, is to send a chemical signal between cells of your sympathetic nervous system, a branch of your nervous system that’s in charge of alertness, hyperactivity and quick response. It is responsible for keeping your blood vessels under tension, which in turn causes an increase in blood pressure and a higher rate of heart contractions during exercise.

  

 The hormone testosterone and neurotransmitters such as the epinephrine work synergistically toward constriction of blood vessels by sending messages throughout your body to become more functional, efficient, and productive. This allows for greater muscle strength, stronger lung function, higher blood volume and enhanced senses. When your brain detects more muscle movement, the response is to release this pair of substances. These hormones speed your heartbeat, contract arteries that serve the non-exercising parts of your body, and stimulate the release of sugars and fats from your body stores for energy. To sum it up, you need these two hormones for exercise so that your body doesn’t sputter out. Experts believe that moderate exercise reduces your levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol, and other chemicals that suppress immune system functioning and increase inflammatory activity. So if you routinely exercise, there seems to be a cumulative benefit for your immune system, improving its ability to fight off infection. While exercise reduces stress hormones, it boosts other chemicals such as endorphins that trigger positive feelings in your body. Endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain, and this can reduce your perception of pain. Lastly, research reveals that exercise increases your self-confidence and the way you evaluate yourself. When you have high self-efficacy, which is the belief that you can be successful at an activity, you’re more likely to start and stick with a workout program (Fontane, 1996). So having the personality trait of positive self-regard can lead to the adaptation of exercise behavior. Engaging in exercise behavior, in turn, leads to greater positive self-regard. So there is a reciprocal impact on exercise behavior and positive self-regard. While there are so many beneficial reasons to regularly exercise, only some of which we covered here, hopefully hearing these will motivate you to rev it up and get motivated to exercise more! SW Note: If you are a beginner or haven’t exercised for a while, consult with your doctor before starting any exercise regimen.