How to Exercise to Increase Serotonin and Dopamine | Mental Health Month | The Benefits of Exercise

Hey there, everybody, and welcome to this video on exercise and mental health or exercising to increase dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and reduce inflammation. Exercise can do a lot of good things. So let's get into talking about it because I promised you I would try to be brief. What are the benefits of exercise? Well, there's a lot of them. It increases oxygenation. You get that blood pumping, and it is going through your lungs more quickly, and it is getting more oxygen throughout your body. That increases energy levels and is just overall good for cognition. If you're outside, then the terpenes, the things that you smell that are emanated from plants. Now this is if you're outside in nature, not if you're outside in the middle of downtown, wherever, but if you're outside in nature. They found that the aromatic compounds that the plants and the soil emit actually do have beneficial effects on your heart rate, on your blood pressure, on your oxygenation, and essentially on your mood when you're outside. Again, sunlight is super helpful for assisting in maintaining a stable circadian rhythm. And vitamin D that your body most effectively absorbs when it is gathered from sunlight is associated with reduced inflammation, and that reduced inflammation is associated with improved moods. So it's a win, win, win. I'm not saying go outside in the middle of the day and bake. We all know that that's not helpful or healthy at this point. But a little bit of sunlight, morning sunlight, or late evening sunlight can be helpful. Exercise improves vagal tone. It helps your heart train, if you will, so it learns to increase in response to a stressor, like elliptical or walking or weights or whatever. And then it recognizes when the stressor is over and it more rapidly goes back down to baseline. That's really awesome. And the more you exercise, the more improved you will find your heart rate variability. That means the greater difference there is between your resting heart rate and your working heart rate, and the quicker your, your heart rate returns to baseline after you exercise. So that's all good. And heart rate variability is monitored in a lot of people's fitness watches now. And it is a really good indicator of stress levels when you're stressed. Your heart rate variability is very minor because your resting heart rate, you're not really resting because you're under stress, so you have less variability. Anyhow, catharsis is another benefit of exercise. Sometimes when you've had a really bad day, it can be helpful to go and work out intensely, whether it's boxing or weightlifting or running or something that you can just get that energy out now. Not everybody likes to work out intensely, so cool. That's fine too. Low intensity exercise, walking, gentle movements. Yoga is associated with a reduction in cortisol, your stress hormone. So it can also be very, very beneficial. And whether you're working out intensely or you're working out mildly, you're still increasing your heart rate, you're still increasing oxygenation, and you're still increasing a lot of good neurotransmitters and hormones and other stuff we'll talk about in just a second. Exercise, when you do it gently, can reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. I know you think, well, when I exercise, you know, I break down muscle tissue and it hurts and it causes inflammation. Well, that can be true. Gentle exercise, walking, swimming, gentle cycling can be helpful at reducing inflammation and getting the blood to circulate and kind of get some of those that oxidate free radicals out of your system. They have shown in three different studies that exercise can reduce oxidative stress. It can be helpful for pain management. When you exercise intensely, it can produce a release of endorphins, which are your natural painkillers. When you exercise mildly or moderately, it can also help with pain management because it keeps your joints lubricated, it keeps you from getting stiff, and it can help balance out muscle imbalances. I've got scoliosis, so one side of my back tends to be tighter than, than the other side of my back. And it's important for me when I go to the gym to do various exercises in order to try to balance that out or I start having spasms. And physical therapy is a great way to find out what kinds of exercises can be helpful for pain management. Exercise can increase energy in a lot of people because you're increasing that oxygenation, you're increasing that blood flow, and, and it also reduces deconditioning. When we're stressed, when we're depressed, when we're injured, when we're sick, when we're on lockdown, we may not be moving around as much. And when you start moving around again, your body has deconditioned, it's gotten out of shape, basically. And so it takes a whole lot more effort and it's a whole lot more exhausting to do things that you used to do before you deconditioned. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was on bed rest for a while. And I can tell you that there was, there's significant deconditioning. People who've gotten sick with illnesses and they've been sick For a period of time, weeks or months, can tell you that getting back up and getting back into it, they have to build up their stamina again. And that's what exercise does. Neurogenesis, one of my favorite topics is rebuilding the neurons in the brain. And when you're under chronic stress, when you have trauma, when you abuse substances, there are a lot of different things that can cause your brain to actually kill off brain cells. And exercise improves oxygenation and improves the release of something called brain derived neutrophic factor, which helps promote neurogenesis in the brain. It helps the brain rebuild itself. How cool is that? And exercise can increase. In addition to bdnf, dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Dopamine is your motivation chemical. It's released when you do something pleasurable. Therefore do something that you like and that'll help increase dopamine. If you're going to the gym and you absolutely hate it, well, you may want to think about something else if you want to get that. Dopamine. Norepinephrine is an energy and a focus chemical. When you exercise, that's just naturally going to be released when that HPA axis is triggered to help you have energy to work out. And serotonin, they found, is also released when we exercise, especially during the cool down portions. But I don't wanna exercise. Okay, I've heard it before. There are some days I don't want to exercise, I don't want to go to the gym. And there are a lot of people, especially who have never exercised or who are significantly deconditioned, that the thought of exercising is totally overwhelming. All right, well, start out by thinking, what do I like to do? Exercise. Exercise means moving your body. It doesn't necessarily mean going to the gym or doing calisthenics or P90X or whatever it is that you automatically think of. Do you like to walk? Do you like to hike, play tennis, do yoga, clean house, dance, Even if it's by yourself, like nobody's watching, Kayaking, playing with your kids or even your dogs, playing frisbee or kickball, getting balloons out and trying to play hot potato, Keep the balloons from touching the ground, or get a trampoline. You can get the little itty bitty trampolines that you can just bounce on because it's fun. Or you can get the big trampoline if you've got space for it. Be creative. It doesn't have to be drudgery. Cycling can be used, what I call sofa cycling, and they have little elliptical machines or cycles that you can put either under your desk or in front of your sofa that you can use to pedal. And you may think to yourself, well, that doesn't sound like much. If you are deconditioned, that may be a lot. They also have ones that you can put on your table that you use your arms if for some reason you can't use your legs, like you've got a broken leg or something. But that still is increasing oxygenation, it's increasing circulation, it is promoting some of these good things. What is it that you're willing to do? At least with sofa cycling you can do it while you're watching your favorite show. And we'll talk about the gym and some other things in a minute. And gardening is my last one that's out in nature most of the time. You can get raised garden beds if you've got arthritis and it hurts to bend down. Or you can get a little scooty chair that you can sit in while you are working in the garden. That can be helpful. Or just work with pots, hanging pots if you like strawberries or tomatoes or just flowers. Sometimes just being out in nature can be relaxing. And while you're moving around, yes, it's not like you're running five miles, but you are moving your body, you're breathing good air and promoting the release of a lot of good things. Tips to increase and Maintain motivation Do something you like. I already covered that. If you are working at a gym or own a gym, consider bulletin boards for hiking and walking groups on the really pretty days. People don't necessarily want to be inside the gym. So what about those members? If members are connected with one another, if they have friendships at that gym, they're a lot less likely to drop their gym membership or go to another gym. So if you can facilitate even their out of walls, out of brick and mortar experiences, that can be beneficial. You can start a dodgeball for adults if you've got room in the parking lot or behind the building for people who are trying to exercise, make it part of your routine. I try to do it about the same time every day and I've been trying to find a new same time recently to go to the gym, but I find it helps a lot for me if I do it at the same time every day. Not only is it part of my routine, then it's not something that I'm trying to stick in somewhere, but I get to know the people that are working out at the same time and I see the same desk staff, etcetera Gyms can make a point of welcoming members and recognizing their absences. When the Planet Fitness here in Lebanon first opened up, the desk staff that was there knew us by name. They recognized us. They would say hi. If we were gone for a couple of days, they'd notice and they'd be like, hey, dude, where you been? And it was nice to feel like we were something more than a number. We were acknowledged, definitely acknowledged, and most of the time acknowledged by name. And that can be really important to promoting connectedness of members to gyms. Get a buddy. And I have a research article on this. They have shown that having a workout buddy promotes working out. It makes it a little less miserable if you have somebody you know. Misery loves company, they say, or maybe you both enjoy it. Go figure. Gyms can facilitate the buddy system, and that, again, promotes gym loyalty. And take an interest in your patrons, even if it's not a buddy that somebody's working out with. If they go to a gym and the people that work there are interested, they know a little bit about them. And it's not really all that hard to. To take a minor interest in your members. But that can really help people feel more connected and more comfortable, more at home at the gym if they don't feel like they're just, you know, passing in and passing out. No, not really passing out. Start slowly. Start, for example, with 20 minutes of something easy, like elliptical on level one or walking at level three at three miles an hour with no incline. Start slow. My mother always used to make that mistake. When she would start working out, she would go in and she would be determined and to go gangbusters. And in a week or so, she would be so sore and so miserable and so hating it that she'd quit. Start slow. Do it 20 minutes, level one. If the next day you wake up and you're like, hey, I'm not feeling anything pretty good, then you can increase the level a little bit or increase how long you're doing it until you get to where you want to be. But go slowly. Don't add more than five, maybe 10 minutes to cardio or five, maybe 10 pounds to weights. When you are first working out with weights, don't start with the heaviest weight you can move. Yes, bodybuilders want to do one rep max and all that stuff. If you're just starting to work out and you're trying to decide if you like weightlifting, doing something that is going to leave you in excruciating pain for the next three days probably ain't gonna work for you. So get your joints used to it. Start developing muscle memory, then increase the weights, the reps. So start doing the squats or the leg press or the leg extension or pull downs or whatever it is. Get used to putting your body through the motions and then start adding again incrementally. Usually it's 5 pounds for upper body and 10 pounds for lower body at the most. And then gradually build up and finally, watch your form. I am very fanatical about people maintaining their form because bad form leads to injuries. Whether it is gardening. And I can tell you I've injured myself gardening because I lean and I pull with one side, and the next day I wake up and this whole side of my body is like, what did you do? And this side is just kind of hanging out. So it is important to watch your form and pay attention to what your body is telling you so you don't overdo it and make yourself miserable. Exercise has repeatedly been shown to improve mental and physical health. Gentle exercise and intense exercise each have their own benefits. One can be cathartic, one can help you reduce cortisol, both of them increase oxygenation, and all of those good hormones and neurotransmitters. So, so it's what you like to do. Enhance the benefits of exercise by doing it in nature. So you're also exposed to that little bit of sunlight and some of those terpenes.