5 Important Ways That Physical Activity Help You Beat An Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety is more than a temporary sensation of being a little nervous. Whether the issue is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, panic disorder, or any of the other anxiety-related disorders that are identified by the medical community, the impact on your life is significant. Even as your doctors and therapists help with the underlying cause of the anxiety, there are things you can do to cope with and improve your condition. One of them is physical activity at a local MMA gym in Toronto. Here are some examples of how those classes can help you start to feel like yourself again.

Giving You a Reason to Get Out of the House

When you experience panic attacks, there’s an impulse to start staying home a lot. Over time, your world becomes very small. Home and work may be the only places that you go. Rather than helping your situation, the isolation only makes things worse.

By choosing to sign up for classes and attending them a few times each week, you resist the urge to pull away from life in general. Along the way, you’ll also find that the activity provides your mind and body some distraction from what’s happening right now.

A Focus For Your Racing Mind

A mind that seems to race from one subject to the next is common with all types of anxiety disorders. The racing takes a physical as well as an emotional toll. Finding a way to focus your mind provides a respite from the racing and helps you to feel a little better overall.

Thanks to the discipline involves with most mixed martial arts, you can train your mind to concentrate on what you are learning in each class. That focus compels the mind to stop racing all over the place and remain attuned to what you are learning. Even if the physical aspects of the class leave you feeling a little worn out, there’s a good chance your mind will feel refreshed.

Providing One More Location That Serves as a Safe Place

Anxiety tends to make the world smaller. That's because of the desire to avoid any setting that leads to a panic attack. Your goal is to build up a list of places that your anxious mind interprets as safe. The gym where you involve yourself in mixed martial arts can be such a place.

The combination of being with people who have a similar goal, being able to focus on what the instructor is saying, and concentrating on mastering the right moves can help the gym be one of your safe places. Add in the fact that you might make a friend or two, and it may begin to feel just a safe as your home.

Overcoming Your Sense of Fatigue

Anxiety disorders leave people feeling weak or fatigued mentally and physically. One way to combat that fatigue is to be actively engaged in ongoing workouts. It will take a lot to get dressed and go to the gym. You’ll also find it hard to participate at first. The wonderful thing is that the more you try, the easier it gets. That’s because physical activity often dampens the effects of anxiety.

Promoting the Release and Balance of Neurotransmitters

Did you know what exercise does to your serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitter levels? It helps to promote healthy and balanced production of each one. The result is that you feel calm and more in control. Even as you do something that promotes physical well-being, that exercise is helping to ease your mind. The sensation of feeling better, even if it only lasts for a hour or two after the workout, more than makes up for the fears that try to prevent you from going to the gym in the first place.

Are you suffering with an anxiety disorder? Along with diet, therapy, and possibly medication, exercise is a powerful resource. Include it in your efforts to over come the disorder and stick with it even when you believe moving one more muscle is impossible. Over time, you’ll be glad that you did.