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One of the best ways to heal your mind naturally is through exercise. There’s a reason some people become almost addicted to running or going to the gym – it’s simply because it makes you feel good.

There’s a few of reasons for that – firstly, there’s that feeling of doing something, taking action. That alone instantly makes you feel better. Then there’s the action of actually doing it, because your body produces endorphins when you exercise – that’s the natural ‘happy drug’ – so you genuinely do feel good when you exercise. Finally, there’s the results you see and feel as you exercise regularly. You may notice that you lose some weight you didn’t like having, or that you feel more energy or just fitter.

Put all those things together and it’s not surprising that your mental health can benefit greatly from exercise.

It doesn’t have to be running, it doesn’t have to be boring. It can be whatever you want, from simple walking in the countryside (nature boosts those happy feelings even further) right through to building muscle at the gym. There are fun ways to get your cardio as well as boring ones – it’s just up to you to choose what works for you.

Personally I do actually like going to the gym. I find lifting weights gives me much greater beneficial feelings, both physically and mentally, than cardio-vascular exercise. I do both however for general health. I’m one of those people though that needs a program, a system to follow, and a friend of mine recommended the Adonis Golden Ratio training system as being comprehensive but still easy to follow (see Twitter too). They were right, it dispells a lot of the myths around gym workouts, nutrition and muscle/strength improvements. This is one area of where there are a lot of opinions from passionate gym enthusiasts so it’s nice to get a clear training program so I can ignore all the ‘noise’.

Next time you are feeling a little blue, sluggish or just being down on yourself, get out of the house and go for a run (or walk) or hit the gym. You won’t feel like it to start with, but you will feel a thousand times better by the end of it. Knowing that can be half the battle won of getting out of the door to start with.