I’ve recently started looking into our Lymphatic System, and its role in our health. And one of the things I’ve unknowingly done to support it is by exercising on a daily basis.

(If you haven’t become a member yet, join my ZGYM to see the exact workouts I do to keep in shape!)

Our Lymphatic System is a network of vessels scattered all throughout the entire body, and plays a role in our immunity, fluid balance, and detoxification. It protects us from outside threats (bacteria, virus, infections, and even cancer), and helps to get rid of waste.

What I was surprised to discover was that our Lymphatic System doesn’t come with a pump, and can become stagnant.  And the easiest thing we can do everyday to keep it from becoming this way is through exercise.

This led me to an article from the American Psychological Association about the benefits of exercise and our mood. It goes on to say that exercise can help with anxiety, depression, and mood enhancement. My favorite quote from the article was that, “Failing to exercise when you feel bad is like explicitly not taking an aspirin when your head hurts.”

I then found an interesting connection between the stress hormone cortisol and the Lymphatic System in an excerpt from the Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology:

“Chronic exposure to large surges of cortisol, the stress hormone, can literally cause the lymphoid tissue to atrophy.”

If we’re not able to managing our stress, then we’ll only be brewing up a nasty storm of cortisol. Our mood has yet to get any better, and now our Lymphatic System is slowing down as a consequence.

Sabotaging its function by committing to staying stressed affects the health of our entire body, mood included. We may just become stressed from being stressed!

That’s why it’s important to stay active to get the stress out of our system. We actually start to produce feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine, which boost us up instead of dragging us down like cortisol.

If you’ve ever experienced that drug-like feeling called Runner’s High, then you know first hand what exercise can do for your mind. It’s very amazing! And that’s all because your brain has produced a mega dose of endorphins.

According to David Muzina, MD, founding director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Mood Disorders Treatment and Research, “Endorphins are our body’s natural morphine and, when released by special glands in our brains, they can produce a sense of well-being or joy and also decrease pain levels.”

Now, you don’t need to become a runner to get your endorphin game on. Anything that gets your heart pumping and your blood flowing is sufficient enough.
(Which I guarantee you’ll get if you try one of my ZGYM programs!)

Even turning down the intensity by slowing down has its benefits. Slow, gentle movements like those found in yoga stimulates the release of serotonin, helping to promote a sense of calmness and put you in a mode of “Zen”- without taking any drugs or mood enhancers. Yoga has even been found to help with the treatment of depression! If you’re looking for an alternative to my vigorous workouts, I have a library of yoga routines to help you relax and restore over at the ZGYM.

While I’m not discrediting the benefits of therapy, I do believe there are natural solutions towards treating mood-related conditions like anxiety and depression. That includes supporting our lymph and getting our body to produce feel-good hormones through the use of exercise. It’s a holistic way of getting your body to work for you, and not against you.

What do you think? Have you felt any better since exercising regularly?

References:

[1] https://www.livescience.com/26983-lymphatic-system.html

[2] Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology. Twelfth Edition. Saunders Press. Philadelphia PA pg. 931

[3] https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression-pictures/great-exercises-to-fight-depression.aspx#02

[4] https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/can-you-prove-that-yoga-works