Mental Health
Active EP understands the benefit of exercise and physical activity for improving mental health; whether that is by changing brain chemistry, establishing positive and healthy coping mechanisms, increasing socialisation and community integration or by improving health, mobility and fitness so that you are physically able to do more.
Mental Health and Exercise:
- Improve depression and anxiety
- Implementation of positive coping strategies
- Community integration and capacity building
- Our EP’s are mental health first aid trained
Why is it important to exercise?
- There is mounting evidence that suggests exercise is an effective treatment method for people suffering from acute and chronic mental illness, with some studies suggesting that exercise is just as effective, if not more effective than pharmacological intervention in alleviating depressive symptoms.
- Exercise can make a big difference in mood and needs to be a fundamental part of mental health treatment. Even one workout a week is known to have great benefits.
- Exercise can also counteract the side effects of some medications such as reducing the risk of falling by strengthening muscles and helping control body weight and blood pressure.
- Exercise for the brain:
- Pumps a greater volume of blood to the brain, which helps you think more clearly
- Increases the size of the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for memory
- Creates new connections between the nerve cells in the brain, protecting against injury
- Reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as cortisol, improving sleep patterns
What can Active EP do for you?
- Active EP provides a supportive and non intimidating environment to design an appropriate physical activity program
- We can develop an exercise program aimed to make you feel better by stimulating chemicals that improve your mood and the parts of the brain responsible for memory and learning.
- Our exercises can also help balance the side-effects of certain medications, such as weight gain, which is good for your overall health and self-esteem.
Make an appointment with one of our Exercise Physiologists to improve your mental health.