Unlock the Stress-Busting Power of Exercise: A Comprehensive Guide

Abstract

How Does Exercise Help Reduce Stress Levels Introduction Physical Exercises play a significant role in defining the well-being of any human. It is imperative to note that physical activity enables the body and mind to feel fresh and less occupied, which enhances a healthy feeling throughout the body. Exercise instantly boosts the brain's norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine levels, positively impacting focus and attention. However, it is essential to note that different physical activities affect the victim differently. Therefore, it is imperative to analyze and understand the best physical exercise to engage in as a potential intervention in response to noted stress. What do different scholars say about physical exercise and stress management? Are there counterarguments regarding different scholars' approaches of arguing the impacts of physical exercises on stress levels? If physical exercises help reduce stress levels, why are some physical activities inducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and other discomforts that worsen stress levels on humans? Analyzing different pieces of literature on the connection between physical exercise and stress will offer a better understanding of what it takes to ensure that physical exercise remains a potential intervention strategy for stress management. Managing and preventing short and long-term stress helps lower risks of experiencing other conditions like depression, obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Regular exercise proves to be one of the easiest and most effective strategies to reduce symptoms of any human-related stress (Sharon-David and Tenenbaum, 3). When one is stressed, focus and concentration tends to lower significantly, which worsens the situation. The situation worsens on victims who fail to engage themselves in physical exercises compared to those who engage themselves in physical exercises (Francis and Rhonda 5). How now does exercise enhance the realization of lowered stress levels upon engagement? (Kim and McKenzie 2-3) responded by confirming that the moment a person engages in physical exercise, the act boosts the brain's dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine levels. Such a boost is then communicated to the brain, which responds through an affect focus/attention on the victim. Through such concentration and focus abilities attributed to physical exercise, the body can relax and come to terms with its normal condition, as the stress levels have reduced. However, there are various physical activities that people may engage in to manage their stress levels, like brisk walking, jogging and running, swimming, cycling, dancing, boxing, and hit workouts (Francis and Rhonda 2-4). According to Childs and Harriet (3), choosing a physical exercise that best addresses the noted stress is vital in determining the intervention's success in lowering the stress levels. It is imperative to note that when a person is stressed, the stress response system releases hormones that respond to the stressors, but when such hormonal fluctuations become chronic, they lead to chronic health problems. To this effect, engaging in regular exercise serves as the only remedy in stabilizing the fluctuating stress response system (). Routine exercise through the proper exercise helps release natural endorphins that enhance stress reduction (Childs and Harriet, 3).In their study, Child and Harriet (2-5) examined cardiovascular, cortisol, and emotional responses to a standardized psychosocial stressor compared to a non-stressful control task among healthy females and males. Their result indicated lower heart rates among regular exercisers than non-exercisers implying that regular exercisers may be more resistant to acute stress protecting them against health problems in the long run. To this effect, regular exercisers exhibit a smaller decline in positive affect in stressful situations. To confirm Childs and Harriet's argument, Sharon-David and Tenenbaum (2) argue that exercise as an adaptive coping strategy is essential in stabilizing the stress response system. However, Sharon-David and Tenenbaum (5) acknowledge that though most of the literature they reviewed provided evidence of the positive influence of success on stress levels, some of the positive influences did not seem applicable. Some exercises tend to improve or worsen the mood. In such a scenario, it remains clear that the employed exercise intervention has worsened the stress levels, thus the need to understand the best exercise activity for a specific noted stressful response. Based on Sharon-David and Tenenbaum (1-5), aerobics proves among the most straightforward and most accessible physical exercises that excellently enhance hormonal stress balance. Some of these aerobics that one can engage in and lower stress levels include but are not limited to running, walking, dancing, and swimming (5). However, since not all aerobics fit in remedying the stressors regardless of their accessibility and affordability, it is wise to suggest a threshold of activity necessary for health protection. Contrary to the past two scholars' points of view, Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita (1-2) wonder what can foster a stressed person to engage in any physical activity. These two great authors argue that in most of the literature they reviewed, the findings indicated that the experience of stress impairs one's effort to remain physically active. According to Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita (2), what hinders a stressed person from remaining physically active is that stress exposes its victim to emotional and physiological challenges, which impairs such victims thinking ability. To this...