Combining mindfulness and exercising can be the key to a healthier, happier you

If you're seeking a routine to improve your mental health and overall well-being in 2024, combining mindfulness and exercise might just be all you need. Combining both routines can help you reap the benefits much more than when practiced individually, according to a new study.

You probably already know the benefits of exercise: a more toned physique, healthy BMI, lower risks of diseases, higher self-esteem, and an overall better mood, among others.

Several studies have found mindfulness to have far-reaching psychological benefits like reducing stress, worry, and anxiety, allowing people to live better happier lives.

When you combine mindfulness with regular exercise, you get the best of both worlds. Being mindful compels you to get up every day and lift weights or hop on that treadmill amid the pain and discomfort even on days when you don't feel like working out. And that's how you obtain the greatest positive impact of exercise. In short, mindfulness prepares you psychologically to stay true to your goals.

And this is important especially if you've made a New Year resolution to live a happier, healthier life this year, whether physically or mentally.

Who knows, maybe you've made the same resolution in the past. You said you were going to quit some bad habits and cultivate healthier ones. You promised yourself you would start exercising. But two months into the year and you were completely off track. That's because it's hard to begin a new routine and stick to it, as the researchers duly noted.

But as the new findings suggest, mindfulness can be the key to following through with your New Year resolution of a better, healthier you, physically and mentally. By combining mindfulness with exercising, you become more in tune with your body and are able to acknowledge the benefits of exercising, allowing you to persist and reap those benefits for your own good.

Author

Satu H. Woodland, PMHCNS-BC, APRN Satu Woodland is owner and clinician of Hope Mental Health, an integrative mental health practice located at Bown Crossing in Boise, Idaho. She sees children, adolescents, and adults.  Ms. Woodland with her background in nursing, prefers a holistic and integrative approach to mental health care that addresses the mind and body together. While Ms. Woodland provides medication management services in all her patients, she believes in long-lasting solutions that include a number of psychotherapies, namely cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure and response prevention therapy, attention to lifestyle, evidenced based alternative psychiatric care and spirituality. If you’d like to gain control over your mental health issues, call Hope Mental Health at 208-918-0958, or use the online scheduling tool to set up an initial consultation.