Exercise’s Effect on Stress and the Physical Effects of Stress

Another effective method of stress management is exercise. This may be surprising to some people because to many exercise sounds almost like a chore and something you don’t want to do. But the reality is that exercise has many perks beyond the physical ones we all know about that make it relieve stress. Studies have shown that regular exercise helps to combat fatigue, improves concentration and your overall cognitive function. This can help you to manage stress because the opposite of these perks are actually symptoms of stress, including fatigue, not being able to concentrate and decreased cognitive function.

I personally practice this by playing basketball on my free time at the courts at UB. I do not use a set schedule for when I go because to me it seems like a set schedule is something that would add to stress. To me immediately after playing the perks seem obvious. After playing I always feel as though I have a clear mind and always feel as though I am happier. I would highly recommend this method of stress management.

Now that we’ve discussed specific methods of stress management I think it is important to talk about why it is so important. It was discussed earlier the negative mental effects of stress but being overly stressed can actually have negative effects on your health. Stress can cause your immune system to be weaker. Many professionals believe that being stress makes you more at risk to get diseases like cancer and heart attacks. Those are more extreme than most the health effects but the more common ones are the tensing of muscles, headaches and migraines. It also effects your digestive system.

It is crazy to think about the negative effects that stress can have on you between your mental and physical health. It emphasizes the importance of practicing stress management in our day to day lives.