Participating in Physical Activity

Participating in physical activity results in an increase in happiness and brings more joy into your life. People have different reasons for participating, or choosing not to participate, in exercise. For some, the motivation comes from having health issues or being overweight. For others, the motivation may simply come from the fact that they participate in a sport. But, regardless of what the possible underlying causes may be, an increase in physical exercise will result in a directly proportional relationship with happiness.

The increase in physical activity will trigger several different effects. These effects are the reduction of stress and anxiety, improvement of energy levels, boosts of confidence, the prevention of insomnia, improvement of mental resilience and, most importantly, the release of chemicals in the brain which contribute to emotional well-being.

Physical activity reduces stress and anxiety due to the change in mood and hormone levels. Exercise forces you to enter into a weak and low form of stress. This is because an eruption of hormonal changes occurs due to an increase in heart rate and blood flow throughout the body. At the end of any form of physical exercise, you always tend to feel better physically and mentally. This results in an immediate mood boost, and you feel a lot less anxious. Occasional exercise will lead to short-term results such as the reduction of stress and anxiety; however, frequent exercise will help improve your stress and anxiety levels long-term. Ultimately, long-term, and even short-term, reduction of stress and anxiety will make you a much happier and free person.

Mental resilience can be linked to an increase in happiness due to an increase in exercise. Exercise improves your mental resilience because exercise is not an easy activity. In fact, exercise can be rather daunting for some people. It's no secret that exercise also comes with physical pain, and physical pain which results in mental pain which almost always tests humans' mental toughness. Physical activity, therefore, forces you to improve your mental toughness. If you exercise frequently, your mental toughness will become so strong and you will be way more resilient and accustomed when faced with hardships or trials in life. Thus, if you become more mentally resilient and you can handle whatever life throws at you, you will become a much happier person that will rarely feel like life has knocked you down to the ground.
Exercise is an excellent way to prevent sleepless nights.

Many people resort to taking all sorts of medication when suffering from insomnia. However, research shows that a simple and effective way to fight those sleepless nights is to exercise more. Exercise is often rigorous and tiring, which results in you becoming fatigued and sometimes a little stiff and sore. Your body definitely needs rest in order to recover, and naturally, you will find that you will fall asleep more easily and quicker when you exercise. This means that you will sleep more when you exercise regularly, and more sleep will bring more happiness into your life. Being well rested will result in you being in a better mood and having the ability to complete all of your tasks throughout the day, which obviously means that you will be way happier!

It's easy in today's society to have low self-esteem and self-confidence, especially because of the perfect, yet unrealistic, body shape and size you are expected to have. Social media only make this worse, because nobody shows off when they're doing badly, and so many people post pictures of themselves in a way that portrays them as looking nothing like they actually do. Having low self-esteem has a really negative effect on your life and can make you very sad person. With exercise comes losing weight and seeing your body transform. When you see positive changes start to happen to your body, your confidence and self-esteem will definitely increase and you will begin to feel so much better about yourself. This will improve all aspects of your life, such as your school life or career, your relationships with friends, family and loved ones and your personal goals and dreams. This is because you will feel stronger, mentally and physically, and your overall confidence in yourself will improve. This will ultimately make you a much happier person, because who doesn't enjoy a good old confidence boost to lift the spirits?
For some strange reason, exercise helps to increase your energy levels rather than decrease them. There are always going to be days where you feel weak and unable to exercise.

Sometimes, life can get very busy and it's extremely difficult to find the willingness to get up and muster the strength to undergo physical exercise. But, when you do dig deep, dust yourself off and find the strength to go workout, you will find yourself having more energy than you did previously. When you exercise, it somehow gives you the energy you need to complete whatever else you need to get done. It gives you that extra boost to have a successful day, which makes you happier and proud of yourself.

There is one effect of an increase in exercise that is ultimately the base that makes all other effects possible. This effect is the release of chemicals in the brain which cause the feeling of happiness and euphoria. You have probably heard someone say I'm going for a run. I need to clear my head. Well, this is because that's actually true! When you exercise, your brain releases a chemical called the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or BDNF for short. BDNF has the ability to repair and protect memory neurons in the body. This chemical acts as a catalyst to help the body begin a system start-over which helps the mind feel clearer and leaves you feeling fresher overall. Another chemical which the brain releases as a result of exercise is dopamine.

Dopamine is a chemical that brings about feelings of happiness, joy and pleasure. Dopamine levels decrease as the age of a person increases. Therefore, the older you get, the more important it is for you to exercise so that dopamine continues to be produced in your body and your levels of happiness stay regular. Last, but definitely not least, the brain releases a very special chemical called endorphin. Endorphin reduces the feeling of discomfort and pain when you are working out. Endorphins stimulate the feeling of euphoria and make you feel good. The funny thing is, is that endorphins can have a similar addictive effect to what dangerous drugs such as nicotine or heroine can, however, endorphins are actually very good for you and the feeling of euphoria comes without detriment to your health!

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