The average hectic weekday is often filled with anxiety.  Early morning commutes, screaming kids, overbearing bosses and impossible deadlines surround us.  The more we try to tell ourselves to just relax the more impossible it seems.  We take a few deep breaths hoping for a miracle, but our anxieties still stand before us like thugs in some gangster movie. 

Anxiety not only feels debilitating, making us stumble throughout our day, it can also drive us to make poor choices without realizing it.  Rather than soothing our anxieties, these choices – junk food, vegging out, alcohol, etc. – end up adding fuel to our anxious fire, making them worse.

The right choice when dealing with anxiety and stress is often the tougher, harder choice.  For example, you just ended your workday.  You’re beat.  Your boss’s condescending demands are still ringing in your ears.  Your drive home was even longer than expected due to a congested river of freeway traffic and apparently using turn signals has gone the way of the dinosaurs.  Your mind and body are demanding that you relax, relax, relax.  The trouble is, you can’t.  It seems impossible.  You’re overflowing with anxious energy.

What scientific research now demonstrates more and more is that consistent physical activity is perhaps the most effective balm you can use to calm your frayed nerves.  Of course, it seems almost illogical after a long, exhausting day to blast through a twenty-minute HIIT routine or even go for a three-mile run, but, in fact, it’s not.  

Elizabeth Gould, a neuroscientist who runs the Gould Lab at Princeton University, recently published a study that indicates that people who consistently exercise develop a much more effective neurological response when dealing with stress and anxiety.  Aside from all the feel-good chemicals that are released during exercise – endorphins, dopamine, etc. – the brains in people who consistently work out may actively sooth them during moments of anxiety and, more importantly, lessen the duration of such stress.

Gould’s study focused on the hippocampus region of the brain – the area largely responsible for our emotions – and indicated that continuous exercise may reshape this area of the brain in a manner that allows people to cope and manage stress and anxiety in a far better way than those who choose a sedentary lifestyle. 

It’s hard not to freak out when we’re anxious, but try to channel that energy into your workouts.  You’ll feel the difference over time.   Plenty of research supports this and so do I!