Editor's note: Season 10 of the podcast, “Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta,” explores the science of happiness. You can listen to the episode here.
CNN —
Think back to when you were a child: moving your body was an instinctual act, and often filled with pure joy.
Maybe it's racing to the front door with your sister or dad, or jumping on the bed with your friends at a sleepover, or playing a team sport, or riding a bike in the park.
For many, the connection between exercise and pleasure was severed or forgotten over the course of adulthood, replaced by the realities and responsibilities of everyday life. Exercise may have become more of a chore, something you had to do to optimize your health or get in shape. Or it may have become too time-consuming. For some, injury, illness, or the passage of time may have made exercise a pain.
But when we give up exercise, we do so at our own peril and put our health at risk. Research shows that exercise, and more challenging, purposeful exercise, is not only beneficial for physical health, but is also closely linked to mental state and mood.
“I always say that movement is like an IV drip of hope,” psychologist Kelly McGonigal recently told CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the “Chasing Life” podcast, “and that's movement in whatever form, with whatever parts of your body you can still move.”
McGonigal is the author of The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Can Help You Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage. A group fitness instructor and lecturer at Stanford University, McGonigal has used movement and exercise throughout her life to manage her own anxiety and depression.
McGonigal said exercise produces and releases “hope” molecules (technically known as myokines) when muscles contract, like when you exercise or simply move around. Some of these myokines have antidepressant effects.
“Muscles don't just move bones and stabilize the skeleton,” she says. “They're like endocrine organs. They produce molecules and release them into the bloodstream, which travel throughout the body and affect all of the organs. Some of them can also cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the brain, including mood, mental state, and brain health.”
According to McGonigal, exercise helps you see your body as an ally.
“I think this is one of the most amazing things about the science of movement and exercise, especially because it allows us to feel like our body is our friend,” she says. “The body is our partner, not something we're trying to fix or control through exercise.”
McGonigal said many other brain chemicals are released during exercise that can affect a person's mental state, resulting in a runner's high, a flow state or even a feeling of euphoria, for example.
“In movement, you actually experience a range of brain states. It's not one 'thing,'” she said. You can listen to the full discussion here.
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How can you tap into pleasure in your exercise and movement? McGonigal offers these five tips:
Get out into nature.
“We know that mindful movement, or exercising outdoors in nature, tends to put the brain into a state where people feel more aware of the present moment and feel more energized and connected to life,” McGonigal says. “People often feel a release from internal noise, stress and worry. … It shifts which brain systems are most active, creating a meditative state.”
Cue up your favorite playlist and get moving.
“Listening to high-energy music you love, moving to the rhythm, and doing exercise that gets your heart rate up often puts you in a euphoric state,” she says. “You feel amazing and get your endorphins flowing, and the same brain chemicals help you feel more connected to other people.”
Being social helps with exercise.
“Make exercise social. We know that through exercise, whether it's strength training or running, people form friendships and communities of support,” McGonigal said.
Who doesn't need another friend and source of support these days?
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Exercising in a group, such as running, can help you socialize and build relationships with others.
Exercise also makes you more sociable.
“People who exercise report feeling less lonely, having better relationships with others, and being better able to connect with others for biochemical reasons and because exercise triggers brain chemistry that makes us more sociable,” McGonigal said.
“If someone with social anxiety exercises, they'll likely be their more outgoing self by the end of the session.”
Find something you truly love.
“Think about the positive experiences you've had with exercise in your life,” McGonigal says, “and maybe even try returning to some of those favorite forms of exercise or finding new ways to do it.”
When you're moving, find a way to be grateful for the ability to move, rather than monitoring your body.
“Try to shift your mindset to, 'Wow, body, that's amazing!' or 'Thank you, body, for the energy that allows me to do this,'” McGonigal says.
We hope these five tips help you unlock joy through movement. Listen to the full episode here. And join us next week on the Chasing Life podcast as Dr. Gabor Maté talks about how past trauma impacts your current health.
