‘Exercise keeps you focused and in the moment.’
‘People often say to me that without their training sessions, their head is all over the place,’ says Tirrel Grant, personal trainer. ‘I see people starting the session feeling worn down by external factors, but they leave it looking like a completely different person. Some run to get their headspace, some lift… It’s about feeling more in tune with your body and focusing on sensations like your breathing or a particular muscle. It keeps you focused and in the moment.’

Immersing yourself in an exercise routine can be a great escape from looping thoughts and the chattering mind that plagues many of us in times of stress. The mental health benefits of exercise can also be more long-lasting. ‘We know that moderate to vigorous activity has huge benefits for people’s mental health,’ says Dr Rebekah Carney, research associate at Manchester’s Youth Mental Health Research Unit. ‘It reduces anxiety, lowers the chance of experiencing depression in the future, increases resilience to stress… Whether it’s walking, running or playing sport with a group of people, the evidence base is strong for using exercise to protect your mental health.’

How does exercise benefit our mental health and well-being?
So, what’s going on in the brain during exercise that makes it so helpful for emotional wellbeing? ‘Even a 20-minute walk has real benefits in terms of reducing anxiety and gaining a little head space,’ says leading neuroscientist, Joe Devlin, of University College London. ‘And there are a couple of reasons for that. While our brains are doing lots of small tasks all the time, our “conscious brain” is really bad at multitasking. If you get up and go for a walk or run, there are all sorts of novel stimuli that take your brain away from internal thoughts. This forces a bit more external examination.’

In this way, our brains have a limited bandwidth that can be used to our advantage. In effect, we can flick a switch from general anxieties, to the here and now. ‘The process of exercise is important,’ says Devlin. ‘Often it takes concentration and, therefore, provides an escape from repetitive thoughts. That holds true even for what people think of as light exercise – t’ai chi, yoga or Pilates – or even lifting free weights. You’re focused on your physical body and that’s a form of mindfulness. You can’t think about what’s bothering you when you’re trying to lift a weighted bar above your head.’