How does exercise affect stress levels?
Dava Money: Exercise affects stress levels in a number of ways; one of them is that when we are responding to stressors with the fight or flight mechanism, our chemicals become unbalanced. Some chemicals are produced more and some less in that state of being and they tend to stay unbalanced for a period of time. If we exercise on a regular basis, we actually reach homeostasis much quicker, so the chemicals become rebalanced much more quickly. If we exercise, we are also washing the toxins out of our body, so it’s a natural cleansing. Exercise also improves our self-esteem, which enables us to deal the stress better, also helps us sleep better, which we need in order to deal with stress. Exercise has been shown to increase the neurotransmitters that are related to pleasure and that helps us reduce our stress also.
