# 399. The psychology of exercise

An episode of [The Psychology of your 20s](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1573710078), 23 Mar 2026, 48 min.

Audio: https://pdrl.fm/f842d9/podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/bc44988a-a82a-4291-ab8b-afdd01187fa8/7abdcee9-1f44-4010-9599-b4100144fa42/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=39e2f432-53df-43b8-a7b9-afdd01187fc4

We all know exercise is ‘good for us’, but why is it that a walk can calm your brain, why a workout can feel like emotional release, or why movement can become either self-care or self-punishment. In this episode, we unpack the psychology of exercise – what’s happening to our brains over time, where the ‘exercise as antidepressants’ claim came from, and what happens when it crosses into obsession. We explore: • The role of endorphins and endocannabinoids • How movement can regulate our emotions • Identity and motivation in exercise • How exercise changes our brains • The role of exercise in treating depression • How to build a healthier relationship with exercise Watch on Netflix: HERE Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast Subscribe on Substack: @thepsychologyofyour20s For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com Our favourite sources: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10813489/ https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/2/101.abstract https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/126190 The Psychology of your 20s is not a substitute for professional mental health help. If you are struggling, distressed or require personalised advice, please reach out to your doctor or a licensed psychologist. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Hello everybody. I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the
[0:08] Speaker 1: Psychology of Your Twenties, the podcast where we talk through
[0:11] Speaker 1: the biggest changes, moments, and transitions of our twenties and
[0:16] Speaker 1: what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back
[0:25] Speaker 1: to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. It is
[0:28] Speaker 1: so great to have you here back for another episode
[0:31] Speaker 1: as we of course break down the psychology of our twenties.
[0:35] Speaker 1: I just want to give you guys a heads up.
[0:36] Speaker 1: Today's episode will touch on themes to do with eating disorders,
[0:41] Speaker 1: weight loss, body image, and exercise addiction. So if that
[0:46] Speaker 1: is something that you are struggling with or you know
[0:49] Speaker 1: you are particularly sensitive to, please take care. There will
[0:53] Speaker 1: be some links in the description below, and honestly, feel
[0:56] Speaker 1: free to skip this episode. Feel free to come back
[0:58] Speaker 1: to it at a later date. Will always be here
[1:01] Speaker 1: in a day, in a month, and a year when
[1:03] Speaker 1: you are in a better headspace. Today, everybody, we are
[1:07] Speaker 1: talking about something that almost feels too obvious to analyze.
[1:11] Speaker 1: We are talking about the psychology of exercise. We all
[1:15] Speaker 1: know exercise is good for us. We all know it
[1:17] Speaker 1: has something to do with in doorphins, something to do
[1:20] Speaker 1: with a chemical reaction in our brain we're not really
[1:23] Speaker 1: aware of, but it is so much deeper than that.
[1:26] Speaker 1: Exercise changes the literal structure of your brain. We have
[1:30] Speaker 1: seen it in study after study. It makes you smarter,
[1:33] Speaker 1: it makes you sharp, It greatly influences the functioning of
[1:36] Speaker 1: your mind. And especially if you make exercise regular, structured,
[1:41] Speaker 1: goal centered, social you will reduce your risk of cancer, dementia,
[1:47] Speaker 1: you will reduce your risk of basically every and any
[1:50] Speaker 1: disease you can think of. It also has a much
[1:53] Speaker 1: darker side that many of us are all too familiar with,
[1:56] Speaker 1: the use of exercise as punishment, the use of it
[2:02] Speaker 1: to maintain a disordered body image, exercise addiction. We're going
[2:06] Speaker 1: to talk about it all, and I promise, as boring
[2:10] Speaker 1: as you may think this topic is, we're going to
[2:13] Speaker 1: go deeper than you are probably used to talking about
[2:17] Speaker 1: exercise on an emotional level, a physical level, a psychological level,
[2:23] Speaker 1: to kind of determine what exercise is the best for us,
[2:26] Speaker 1: what exercises are best for our mind, what does it
[2:30] Speaker 1: do for us psychologically, how to find exercise you enjoy,
[2:36] Speaker 1: and why the intensity of your exercise doesn't really matter.
[2:41] Speaker 1: It's often the consistency, So there is a lot to
[2:44] Speaker 1: discuss without further ado, let's get into the psychology of exercise.
[2:55] Speaker 1: We've all heard, you know, exercise makes you feel good,
[2:58] Speaker 1: it makes you feel amazing. We've all probably felt the
[3:01] Speaker 1: effect of a great workout. What is that feeling?
[3:03] Speaker 2: Where does that actually come from the main celebrity of
[3:07] Speaker 2: this topic is obviously the role of endorphins. Endorphins are
[3:12] Speaker 2: basically your body's endogenous opioids, meaning they are chemicals your
[3:18] Speaker 2: brain and your pituitary gland produces naturally that bind to
[3:22] Speaker 2: opioid receptors in your brain, the same receptors that can
[3:26] Speaker 2: be stimulated by an external source like drugs or like
[3:30] Speaker 2: other substances. We hear a lot about them in reference
[3:34] Speaker 2: to exercise, but they are silently involved in everything from
[3:39] Speaker 2: pain management to your stress response, how your brain sees reward. Basically,
[3:46] Speaker 2: your endorphins through all these different functions, contribute to the
[3:51] Speaker 2: very human feeling of I can do hard things, whether
[3:56] Speaker 2: that's in life at work, but also when it comes
[3:59] Speaker 2: to like intense physical effort, I can do hard things.
[4:04] Speaker 2: What are they actually doing in your brain and your
[4:06] Speaker 2: body when you exercise? That makes them as powerful as
[4:10] Speaker 2: they are. Essentially, as the intensity of exercise rises, your
[4:15] Speaker 2: body is attempting to balance a lot of different signals,
[4:19] Speaker 2: right like you are deliberately putting yourself under strain, maybe
[4:22] Speaker 2: under pain, under fatigue, under stress, and your conscious interpretation
[4:28] Speaker 2: of that is to not do that, is to slow down.
[4:32] Speaker 2: And what endorphins do is try and work on the
[4:35] Speaker 2: pain and frustration and stress part of this so that
[4:38] Speaker 2: you keep going, so that you finish the workout, so
[4:40] Speaker 2: that you finish the run. They make discomfort basically feel
[4:44] Speaker 2: less threatening. They make it feel more tolerable so you
[4:47] Speaker 2: can keep going. A big way they do that is
[4:49] Speaker 2: they turn down the volume of pain signals in your
[4:53] Speaker 2: body and in your mind so that you are able
[4:55] Speaker 2: to continue with an activity without panicking. They are one
[5:00] Speaker 2: of the reasons that effort and exercise can feel so
[5:04] Speaker 2: satisfying rather than just unpleasant. It's why we get you
[5:09] Speaker 2: a run is high. It's why we feel so euphoric
[5:15] Speaker 2: at the end of a workout. But they are not
[5:18] Speaker 2: the only explanation for this feeling and for why exercise
[5:23] Speaker 2: feels so emotionally emotionally rewarding. Actually, a lot of research
[5:29] Speaker 2: suggests that the endorphins released into your bloodstream like when
[5:33] Speaker 2: you are working out, they actually don't cross the blood
[5:37] Speaker 2: brain barrier that quickly. It seems like slightly improbable that
[5:43] Speaker 2: they would be able to have that impact in such
[5:45] Speaker 2: a short term amount of time. This is the reason
[5:48] Speaker 2: why scientists kind of started to look for other explanations
[5:53] Speaker 2: for what is really influencing our brains directly when we exercise.
[5:57] Speaker 2: There is a very strong argument that has come out
[6:01] Speaker 2: of this that the endo cannabinoid system is actually what
[6:05] Speaker 2: deserves a lot of the credit when it comes to
[6:07] Speaker 2: the feel good feeling of exercise. You may hear cannabinoid
[6:11] Speaker 2: and think we're going to talk about marijuana. We're not, actually,
[6:15] Speaker 2: but they are kind of related. Endo cannabinoids are molecules
[6:21] Speaker 2: your body produces that bind to the cannabinoid receptor. That
[6:26] Speaker 2: is the same receptors that respond to the effects of cannabis,
[6:30] Speaker 2: Except cannabinoids in your body internally produce that You don't
[6:34] Speaker 2: have to smoke something or consume something to get that feeling,
[6:38] Speaker 2: to get that boost in your mood, reduction in your anxiety,
[6:42] Speaker 2: sense of reward, maybe even that floaty feeling. There is
[6:46] Speaker 2: so much research that shows exercise boosts endocannabinoids, but endocannabinoids
[6:52] Speaker 2: also make you want to exercise two, so it kind
[6:56] Speaker 2: of works both ways. Essentially, like these chemicals are what
[7:01] Speaker 2: make you feel not just good and happy, but calm.
[7:06] Speaker 2: That is why you might feel lighter, calmer, floaty after
[7:12] Speaker 2: a run or after a workout. That's why you might
[7:14] Speaker 2: feel relaxed. This same system also seems to influence motivation,
[7:20] Speaker 2: i e. Whether or not you want to move in
[7:22] Speaker 2: the first place. It's not just the nice feeling afterwards,
[7:26] Speaker 2: there's actually something else going on. In twenty nineteen, a
[7:29] Speaker 2: group of researchers from France conducted a study on a
[7:32] Speaker 2: group of mice looking into this, and they basically they
[7:36] Speaker 2: asked a very relatable question, why don't some mice why
[7:40] Speaker 2: don't some people find exercise as attractive? You know, there
[7:46] Speaker 2: are some mice, as there are some humans who will
[7:49] Speaker 2: happily run for miles, who will find that really rewarding,
[7:54] Speaker 2: and who would you know, prefer that over a simpler
[7:57] Speaker 2: reward like chocolate. And then there are some humans who
[8:02] Speaker 2: and mice who were the opposite, who just really don't
[8:05] Speaker 2: enjoy running, would much rather the simpler reward of a
[8:08] Speaker 2: chocolate or oh, of sitting down, or of talking with friends.
[8:13] Speaker 2: What they basically thought was that whether people are naturally
[8:16] Speaker 2: drawn towards exercise comes down to these cannabinoid receptors. And
[8:21] Speaker 2: so what they did is they had two groups of
[8:23] Speaker 2: mice and in one of the groups they knocked out
[8:25] Speaker 2: these receptors. The receptors like what they called they're called
[8:28] Speaker 2: c B one receptors. They essentially didn't work. So no
[8:33] Speaker 2: matter how much external amounts of this they received or internal,
[8:37] Speaker 2: they were never going to get the effect. They then
[8:40] Speaker 2: built this challenge. Right, the mice could earn access to
[8:44] Speaker 2: either the running wheel or a small chocolate treat, but
[8:48] Speaker 2: they had to work for both. They had to push
[8:52] Speaker 2: their nose against this device basically like over and over again,
[8:55] Speaker 2: and it got increasingly hard if they wanted the reward.
[8:57] Speaker 2: Because they were testing motivation. What they found was pretty amazing.
[9:01] Speaker 2: Mice with a strong working endocannabinoid system actually put in
[9:06] Speaker 2: effort to exercise, choosing the running over the chocolate over
[9:10] Speaker 2: and over again. And the mice without the cannabinoid receptors
[9:16] Speaker 2: did not want anything to do with the real They
[9:18] Speaker 2: only kind of occasionally wanted something to do with the chocolate,
[9:21] Speaker 2: but they definitely didn't want to run. The only thing
[9:24] Speaker 2: that was different was these receptors. So, in other words,
[9:27] Speaker 2: when these cannabinoid receptors aren't functioning, the mice didn't suddenly
[9:33] Speaker 2: become lazy. Overall, they weren't lazy mice. There was just
[9:36] Speaker 2: as part of them that lost interest in running. And
[9:39] Speaker 2: the researchers takeaway was that these receptors play a major
[9:42] Speaker 2: role in the motivation to exercise. That's why some people
[9:46] Speaker 2: really love it, some people don't. This is obviously a
[9:50] Speaker 2: mouse study, but it does connect to this bigger idea
[9:52] Speaker 2: that's been building in humans too. Some people naturally just
[9:56] Speaker 2: do not find exercise as rewarding. Some people naturally could
[10:01] Speaker 2: run one hundred miles and never get that high. The
[10:04] Speaker 2: question that comes from that is like, is it just
[10:05] Speaker 2: their DNA? The answer is a bit more complicated. I
[10:10] Speaker 2: think the best way to picture it is this loop
[10:12] Speaker 2: whereby exercise actually increases endocannabinoids. Endocannabinoids can make exercise feel
[10:19] Speaker 2: more rewarding, which makes you more likely to do it again,
[10:22] Speaker 2: which then increases the level and increases how basically receptive
[10:26] Speaker 2: our receptors are to this chemical. This also is influenced
[10:31] Speaker 2: by environments. So if you grew up in a family
[10:33] Speaker 2: where nobody really ever exercised, or exercise for you is
[10:37] Speaker 2: always associated with discomfort, a social discomfort, and emotional discomfort, bullying, whatever,
[10:43] Speaker 2: whatever number of these chemicals you have in your brain,
[10:46] Speaker 2: it is always going to be harder to find motivation
[10:48] Speaker 2: because the negative reinforcement of this poor past experience will
[10:53] Speaker 2: often continuously outweigh the positive reinforcement of these counterabinoids. Let's
[10:58] Speaker 2: move on from this biological life explanation. Let's talk about
[11:02] Speaker 2: why exercise is so powerful from a sematic and emotional perspective.
[11:07] Speaker 2: Because I don't know about you. I don't exercise for
[11:11] Speaker 2: the physicality of it. I don't exercise because of looks.
[11:15] Speaker 2: I really exercise because I'm a very stressed individual, and
[11:19] Speaker 2: exercise is one of the only coping strategies I have
[11:21] Speaker 2: found that is not self destructive, and I feel like
[11:24] Speaker 2: I have tried a few others. This is because exercise
[11:27] Speaker 2: is a form of sematic release. Basically, it is a
[11:31] Speaker 2: way for our body to physically process emotions through sensation
[11:35] Speaker 2: and movement. A lot of trauma emotion is obviously psychological,
[11:41] Speaker 2: so it's also deeply physical sits it is stored in
[11:44] Speaker 2: your body. If you have ever read The Body Keeps
[11:47] Speaker 2: the Score, you will know this. But trauma leaves its
[11:50] Speaker 2: mark in so many ways, in the form of a
[11:53] Speaker 2: hyperactive nervous system in the form of a constant sense
[11:57] Speaker 2: of danger that can wreck havoc on your or modal
[12:01] Speaker 2: stress levels. Immune system. To work through stress and emotional trauma,
[12:07] Speaker 2: at some point, we have to deal with this physical side,
[12:10] Speaker 2: and we have to feel safe enough to inhabit our
[12:14] Speaker 2: bodies and safe enough for our bodies to return to homeostasis.
[12:18] Speaker 2: When we move, the movement gives those I guess tens
[12:22] Speaker 2: or stock energy somewhere to go. You know, for example,
[12:25] Speaker 2: when you increase respiration and circulation through a run, this
[12:30] Speaker 2: can shift your autonomic nervous system back on from fight
[12:35] Speaker 2: and flight to a balanced response to rest and digest.
[12:40] Speaker 2: When we exercise, we also convert that weird, vague, floating
[12:45] Speaker 2: anxiety that comes from stress into a specific bodily sensation.
[12:51] Speaker 2: We begin to find it manageable. It also indicates to
[12:54] Speaker 2: your brain, hey, like we encountered physical stress and we survived.
[13:00] Speaker 2: Maybe when we encounter emotional stress that feels like physical
[13:03] Speaker 2: stress in the future will be psychologically resilient enough for
[13:07] Speaker 2: that as well. This is actually this has a name
[13:10] Speaker 2: in psychology. It's called stress inoculation theory. Essentially, exposing yourself
[13:15] Speaker 2: to manageable voluntary stress like running. Like exercise, it puts
[13:21] Speaker 2: your body under a state of strain that then prepares
[13:26] Speaker 2: it and allows it to practice coping mechanisms for when
[13:30] Speaker 2: it's under stress and strain in the future in an
[13:34] Speaker 2: involuntary way. Finally, this is one of my favorite concepts ever.
[13:41] Speaker 2: The reason exercise and specifically forward movement like walking, running, riding, hiking,
[13:48] Speaker 2: horse riding, even the reason those are so good for
[13:51] Speaker 2: you emotionally is because of the power of optic flow. Basically,
[13:57] Speaker 2: your like Hotgirl walk is a form of therapy because
[14:02] Speaker 2: your eyes make constant lateral movements to track your environment.
[14:06] Speaker 2: This optic flow calms the brain's threat processing system and centers.
[14:12] Speaker 2: It shifts you into a more relaxed emotional state that
[14:15] Speaker 2: can change your thought patterns for the better. Literally, if
[14:19] Speaker 2: you have heard of edmr therapy, the creator of that
[14:23] Speaker 2: therapy doctor Francine Shapiro. She conceived of that theory that
[14:27] Speaker 2: is one of the most prominent intrama therapy these days.
[14:30] Speaker 2: On a walk, she realized that when she was walking,
[14:33] Speaker 2: those movements that her eyes were doing was reducing her
[14:36] Speaker 2: stress levels. That is why for some people when they exercise,
[14:40] Speaker 2: when they walk, when they hike, when they run, that
[14:43] Speaker 2: is the only time their brain is still. It's the
[14:45] Speaker 2: only time they don't overthink beyond all this psychologically as well.
[14:52] Speaker 2: I really just think that exercise helps us rewire our
[14:56] Speaker 2: mind and change our cognitive frameworks because it gives us
[15:01] Speaker 2: benchmarks to strive for. Because of the structure of it.
[15:04] Speaker 2: You know, how fast can I run, well, especially if
[15:07] Speaker 2: you're focused on improvement, right, how fast can I run?
[15:10] Speaker 2: How much further can I run? How much heavier can
[15:12] Speaker 2: I lift? How many more reps can I do? How
[15:14] Speaker 2: can I improve my form? How many more inches can
[15:17] Speaker 2: I get? Benchmarks like that that are so obvious and
[15:21] Speaker 2: available in exercise and sport are incredibly stabilizing for the
[15:25] Speaker 2: human mind because they make progress visible. They give us,
[15:29] Speaker 2: they give us a sense of control. I really think
[15:31] Speaker 2: that's what it is like. If we look and we
[15:34] Speaker 2: think about the stress we experience in everyday life. A
[15:37] Speaker 2: lot of it is external pressure that feels completely outside
[15:41] Speaker 2: of us, and we have no say in it. You know,
[15:43] Speaker 2: we have no say if somebody at work hates us.
[15:45] Speaker 2: We have no say. If we're having a fight with
[15:47] Speaker 2: our friend, we have no say. If I don't know
[15:50] Speaker 2: we got scammed or we missed our bus. Some of
[15:53] Speaker 2: those things we have saying, But a lot of like
[15:56] Speaker 2: the more general stress of living in big cities or
[15:59] Speaker 2: being in your twenty like it just kind of all
[16:01] Speaker 2: gets thrown at us. Exercise creates controllable benchmarks that we
[16:06] Speaker 2: can work towards systematically. You cannot discount this mental structure.
[16:12] Speaker 2: Study after study, including a very famous one in twenty
[16:16] Speaker 2: eighteen from the University of Exeter and the University of
[16:19] Speaker 2: New South Wales, shows that structure like this, the mental
[16:24] Speaker 2: structure of exercise reversus mental aging, improves emotional functioning reduces
[16:30] Speaker 2: your risk factor for dementia. Even if you hate exercise,
[16:34] Speaker 2: this is so important to know because you probably won't
[16:37] Speaker 2: hate exercise as much as you will hate losing your
[16:40] Speaker 2: memory as you get older, and this is one of
[16:42] Speaker 2: the best ways you can protect against that. Let's talk
[16:46] Speaker 2: about the final element of exercise that makes it so powerful.
[16:50] Speaker 2: It is the social psychology behind coregulation. Doing exercise by
[16:56] Speaker 2: yourself amazing doing at least one workout a week others
[17:00] Speaker 2: is spectacular. For every single element of your health that
[17:03] Speaker 2: you can think of, there is something uniquely regulating about
[17:08] Speaker 2: doing something next to somebody, not necessarily facing them, not
[17:12] Speaker 2: necessarily talking deeply, just moving alongside them, side by side.
[17:17] Speaker 2: Movement like that is one of our most primal states
[17:21] Speaker 2: of being. It's one of the most rewarding sensations. It
[17:24] Speaker 2: unlocks this deep ancient peace in you because that is
[17:28] Speaker 2: how we were meant to move across plains, across mountains
[17:32] Speaker 2: with other people naturally as a pack, side by side,
[17:36] Speaker 2: for thousands of years, thousands of years before we got here.
[17:40] Speaker 2: That is hardwired into your DNA for that to be
[17:43] Speaker 2: a relaxing, mood stabilizing sensation that you are with the herd,
[17:48] Speaker 2: you are protected, you are moving forward. In fact, research
[17:52] Speaker 2: on this, what they call physical synchrony, shows that it
[17:57] Speaker 2: increases bonding, it increases affiliation. Interestingly, it can even shift
[18:03] Speaker 2: and downgrade pain tolerance. Literally, your run club is reducing
[18:09] Speaker 2: your perception of pain. The best example of this published
[18:13] Speaker 2: in the research was a journal from a couple of
[18:17] Speaker 2: years ago on group dancing, and it showed that, yeah,
[18:21] Speaker 2: dancing is great, but when you dance with other people,
[18:23] Speaker 2: it improves emotional coping. People felt better able to handle
[18:28] Speaker 2: hard situations when they got out and danced when they
[18:31] Speaker 2: were dancing with other people in a group setting, even
[18:34] Speaker 2: at the club in the old person's home. Like that
[18:37] Speaker 2: movement is ancient, is an ancient ritual. Physical movement is
[18:41] Speaker 2: a spiritual ritual in this sense that unlocks a core
[18:45] Speaker 2: I think, a core need in us that not many
[18:48] Speaker 2: activities in the modern day will naturally do. That is
[18:51] Speaker 2: really our first takeaway from the psychology of exercise. It's
[18:54] Speaker 2: not just good for you because of endorphins. Therefore, it
[18:57] Speaker 2: doesn't only benefit you if you're pushing yourself to the
[19:00] Speaker 2: physical limit every time. There are so many other reasons
[19:03] Speaker 2: why even just walking yoga, low impact exercise is just
[19:08] Speaker 2: as vital and helpful because of somatic release, because of coregulation,
[19:14] Speaker 2: because of physical synchrony. Okay, let's take a short break
[19:18] Speaker 2: here before we get into discussing how exercise changes our brains,
[19:24] Speaker 2: whether it is or could ever be a replacement for antidepressants,
[19:28] Speaker 2: as some suggest, some of those more controversial sides to
[19:32] Speaker 2: this topic we're going to get into after the short break.
[19:36] Speaker 2: Stay with us. Regular exercise will literally change the physical
[19:45] Speaker 2: structure of your brain. That is a claim a lot
[19:47] Speaker 2: of people make. Let's explore it together. There is no
[19:51] Speaker 2: doubt really that exercise will physically change your brain. But
[19:54] Speaker 2: it's not it's not going to create like new lobes
[19:57] Speaker 2: or anything. Primarily, it's going to be is what we
[20:00] Speaker 2: call brain volume. And it's also going to promote functional
[20:06] Speaker 2: changes as well. So when you hear somebody be like
[20:08] Speaker 2: it changes your brain, it's not giving a new brain.
[20:11] Speaker 2: It's changing how networks in your brain communicate. If we
[20:16] Speaker 2: look structurally. One of the most famous findings about the
[20:20] Speaker 2: neurological impact of exercise comes from this randomized trial showing
[20:25] Speaker 2: that people who did aerobic exercise tend to have increased
[20:28] Speaker 2: to hippocampal volume. So the hippocampus, basically it's involved in
[20:32] Speaker 2: learning and memory. More volume in those areas means greater
[20:37] Speaker 2: memory abilities, it means more brain reserves, more neurons, more
[20:41] Speaker 2: white matter, greater hydration from more cells being able to
[20:45] Speaker 2: hold water. That's all very important for electrical signaling, so
[20:49] Speaker 2: that change in volume influences the change in function. This
[20:53] Speaker 2: twenty eleven University of Illinois study trial. I guess actually
[20:57] Speaker 2: looked at one hundred and twenty older adults and it
[21:00] Speaker 2: asked them to engage either in regular walking starting at
[21:04] Speaker 2: ten minutes going up to forty minutes, or it asked
[21:08] Speaker 2: them just to stretch. They then did a number of before, during,
[21:11] Speaker 2: and after MRIs and what they found was that in
[21:16] Speaker 2: these older adults, the hippocampus, the part that usually really
[21:20] Speaker 2: shows a decline in age and that naturally shrinks, was
[21:25] Speaker 2: staying really strong and healthy, showing less deterioration and sometimes
[21:30] Speaker 2: an increase in volume in people who were walking regularly.
[21:36] Speaker 2: The craziest statistic from the study, the average volume increase
[21:40] Speaker 2: was two percent. That equals one to two years of
[21:46] Speaker 2: reversal of age related volume loss. Basically, they were getting
[21:50] Speaker 2: years back of their memory of their lives, of the
[21:56] Speaker 2: plasticity of their brain. And that's really important to emphasize.
[22:00] Speaker 2: I think when you do an episode about the psychology
[22:03] Speaker 2: of exercise, right, people want you to like emphasize how
[22:08] Speaker 2: intense exercise is probably great for you. And you're probably
[22:10] Speaker 2: assuming that working out vigorously would increase aerobic aerobic blood circulation, digestion,
[22:18] Speaker 2: all these things that would help with this mental longevity
[22:20] Speaker 2: and physical longevity. What these studies are showing us is
[22:23] Speaker 2: that intensity doesn't matter. All that matters is consistency. All
[22:29] Speaker 2: that matters is how much were they doing forty minutes
[22:33] Speaker 2: forty minutes a day and you are reversing, You are
[22:36] Speaker 2: getting years back on your life. And I think that
[22:39] Speaker 2: knowledge is important for people who don't always have the
[22:41] Speaker 2: best relationship with exercise, or people who think that it
[22:45] Speaker 2: is yeah, again, intensity that's going to matter. Absolutely not.
[22:50] Speaker 2: In terms of the more functional changes, exercise also improves
[22:56] Speaker 2: basically how your different brain networks talk to each other.
[23:00] Speaker 2: Your brain has these big systems that switch on depending
[23:04] Speaker 2: on what you're doing. One network you hear a lot
[23:07] Speaker 2: about in the podcast, the default mode network, is more
[23:11] Speaker 2: active when you're daydreaming or you're stuck in self focused
[23:16] Speaker 2: thought patterns. And another network, which is the executive control network,
[23:21] Speaker 2: is more active when you're concentrating, planning, controlling your attention.
[23:26] Speaker 2: A twenty twenty five review of functional connectivity and the
[23:30] Speaker 2: relationship it has with exercise revealed that people who exercise
[23:34] Speaker 2: regularly can switch between these networks easier. Basically, it nudges
[23:40] Speaker 2: your brain to have better coping to become more flexible
[23:44] Speaker 2: and to have smoother switching, meaning you don't just stick
[23:48] Speaker 2: in one mode. We're not always either on or feeling
[23:51] Speaker 2: a little bit off or detached. Regular exercise means that
[23:55] Speaker 2: we can retune that kind of network balance to help
[23:59] Speaker 2: our brain shift gears between self focused thought and goal
[24:04] Speaker 2: directed thought more efficiently. And that's great for mental resilience. Now,
[24:09] Speaker 2: what does this all mean for our mental health? We
[24:11] Speaker 2: had to get to it. We've been circling this element
[24:14] Speaker 2: all day for this whole episode. Something that has become
[24:17] Speaker 2: a huge annoyance of mine. Is very old, and I
[24:21] Speaker 2: would say increasingly boring narrative that exercise is better than
[24:27] Speaker 2: any antidepressant. If you're depressed, put on your running shoes.
[24:31] Speaker 2: You don't need a pill, you need some new sneakers,
[24:34] Speaker 2: You need to get off the couch and go for
[24:36] Speaker 2: a run. I remember a famous TikTok about that a
[24:39] Speaker 2: couple of years ago. I don't know. I trained for
[24:42] Speaker 2: a half marathon last year. I was running like thirty
[24:44] Speaker 2: thirty five kilometers a week. I was also on antidepressants
[24:48] Speaker 2: and I was still depressed. So unless you want to
[24:51] Speaker 2: say they canceled each other out, something isn't adding up
[24:55] Speaker 2: exercise is not the holy grail. I think so many
[24:58] Speaker 2: people think it is. I think this belief has gotten
[25:03] Speaker 2: worse in recent years because of one very famous study
[25:06] Speaker 2: from twenty twenty four. This is a paper that went viral.
[25:10] Speaker 2: Academic articles so rarely go viral, and this paper essentially
[25:16] Speaker 2: looked at the results of nineteen different studies measuring the
[25:19] Speaker 2: effects of dancing on depression in older adults, and it
[25:24] Speaker 2: found that those who took part in dance interventions actually
[25:29] Speaker 2: saw a significant reduction in depression compared to those who didn't.
[25:33] Speaker 2: That's what the blanket finding was. If we think back
[25:37] Speaker 2: to the synchrony research that we talked about earlier, like
[25:40] Speaker 2: that makes a lot of sense, right, we're moving with
[25:42] Speaker 2: other people, it's this natural rhythm. But the issue is
[25:46] Speaker 2: this paper only included nineteen randomized studies. That's only five
[25:50] Speaker 2: hundred people all up in these studies. Even themselves, even
[25:54] Speaker 2: the researchers themselves said the findings of this paper were
[25:58] Speaker 2: high risk for generalization and were probably very low in
[26:07] Speaker 2: terms of validity to the fact that they could be
[26:09] Speaker 2: produced to get it and again and again. So we
[26:11] Speaker 2: have to acknowledge there are holes in this research. There
[26:14] Speaker 2: was another study that also got a lot of hype
[26:16] Speaker 2: that was very similar to this one titled Exercise for Depression.
[26:21] Speaker 2: Very to the point title. This research basically published a
[26:24] Speaker 2: fining about how exercise can improve depressive symptoms, which is true,
[26:29] Speaker 2: but a lot of people online took that out of
[26:31] Speaker 2: context and said this is proof that mentally ill people
[26:34] Speaker 2: just need to exercise more. The important caveat These findings
[26:39] Speaker 2: were compared to no treatment, not antidepressants, not therapy. Basically,
[26:44] Speaker 2: they had two groups of people. One group was a
[26:47] Speaker 2: depressed group of people who didn't do any intervention, including exercise.
[26:50] Speaker 2: One was a depressed group of people who their only
[26:53] Speaker 2: intervention was exercise. That's why they got better, That's why
[26:57] Speaker 2: they felt better. It wasn't a cure, you know. It
[27:01] Speaker 2: was this difference between doing nothing and something that's something
[27:04] Speaker 2: you know a lot of people said could have been anything.
[27:09] Speaker 2: I really do think that exercise is a very, very
[27:14] Speaker 2: valuable part of mental health treatment. I genuinely think I
[27:17] Speaker 2: would lose my mind if I did not run regularly.
[27:20] Speaker 2: And I've got so many friends who have said very
[27:22] Speaker 2: similar things. We have to be really careful with generalizations, though,
[27:28] Speaker 2: we have to be incredibly specific because the consequences of
[27:34] Speaker 2: saying dance will cure my will cure your depression. Dance
[27:39] Speaker 2: was better than any antidepressant, running was better than any
[27:42] Speaker 2: therapy treatment offered. Is supremely dangerous because there are people
[27:47] Speaker 2: out there. You know, I feel like I'm probably one
[27:50] Speaker 2: of them. You're probably we all know somebody out there
[27:52] Speaker 2: who's really doing it tough and looking for a solution.
[27:56] Speaker 2: And to say your antidepressants or whatever other methods or
[28:01] Speaker 2: interventions are getting in the way of the purity of
[28:04] Speaker 2: exercise and the purity of results you could get from
[28:07] Speaker 2: exercise is deeply dangerous and really just excludes other parts
[28:15] Speaker 2: of the truth. Okay, let's move on from this. Let's
[28:19] Speaker 2: pivot from this, should I say, let's get into the
[28:22] Speaker 2: deeper relationship between exercise and mental health. Beyond it is
[28:26] Speaker 2: a treatment for depression or anxiety. When does exercise actually
[28:29] Speaker 2: become bad for our mental health and our psychology. Here
[28:33] Speaker 2: is something you may not know about me. My sister
[28:37] Speaker 2: is actually a professional athlete. She plays football. My mum
[28:40] Speaker 2: was also a professional athlete or an elite athlete. She
[28:44] Speaker 2: was a javelin thrower. She played men's basketball back in
[28:47] Speaker 2: the day when they didn't have a women's team. I
[28:50] Speaker 2: did not get that gene. Obviously. One of my best
[28:54] Speaker 2: friends also a professional athlete. I have heard stories, horror
[28:59] Speaker 2: stories of how obsessive people will get. People doing ten
[29:05] Speaker 2: k races when they had been warned by doxes not
[29:08] Speaker 2: to do it because of heart impairments, People tearing muscles
[29:12] Speaker 2: and going back to the gym the next day. The diet,
[29:15] Speaker 2: the control, the obsession, everything, the stories they will tell you.
[29:21] Speaker 2: There is a growing amount of research on what we
[29:24] Speaker 2: could now call exercise addiction, uncontrolled excessive exercise that persists
[29:30] Speaker 2: even when it causes you harm. That behavioral pattern is
[29:34] Speaker 2: very similar to other addictions. It's a bit of controversy
[29:37] Speaker 2: as to whether we could call it an addiction, but
[29:39] Speaker 2: I think I think it is a massive reason being
[29:42] Speaker 2: it works on very similar neurological levels and biological levels.
[29:48] Speaker 2: Exercise has this amazing potential to change our mood. It
[29:52] Speaker 2: provides this rare combination of things which is immediate relief
[29:55] Speaker 2: and measurable progress, as well as social reinforcement and validation
[30:01] Speaker 2: for somebody who feels lost, for somebody who feels powerless.
[30:04] Speaker 2: You know, ecstasy, heroin might not be their drug of choice.
[30:08] Speaker 2: Exercise very easily could be because it gives you something
[30:11] Speaker 2: to focus on. If you have all these areas in
[30:14] Speaker 2: your life that feel uncontrollable relationships, work, family, money, exercise
[30:18] Speaker 2: can become the domain where control feels possible. This isn't
[30:25] Speaker 2: inherently bad, but it can become dangerous when that attempt
[30:29] Speaker 2: at gaining control becomes compulsive. A lot of exercise addiction
[30:34] Speaker 2: research that is, you know, coming out at the moment,
[30:38] Speaker 2: really highlights the overlap between exercise and body image issues,
[30:43] Speaker 2: and exercise and eating disorders, and the fact that you
[30:47] Speaker 2: lose the joy for progress. It's about management, it's about shame,
[30:50] Speaker 2: it's about self worth, it's about control. Because of this,
[30:55] Speaker 2: like exercise can become a way that somebody manages their emotions, yes,
[31:01] Speaker 2: it can also become the way that people manage their identity.
[31:07] Speaker 2: You know, you feel panicked, you feel guilty, you feel low,
[31:11] Speaker 2: you feel bad about yourself. Exercise is the emotional regulator,
[31:16] Speaker 2: and when it becomes the only method for that, it
[31:19] Speaker 2: becomes really confining because it will, like life will eventually
[31:24] Speaker 2: interrupt it. You know, when you experience illness, injury, travel,
[31:29] Speaker 2: you have caring responsibilities, school, grief burnout and you cannot
[31:33] Speaker 2: stick to the rigid schedule anymore. If your emotional stability
[31:38] Speaker 2: depends on never missing a session, you are building mental
[31:42] Speaker 2: health on a very rocky foundation. The thing is, exercise
[31:46] Speaker 2: and self esteem have this very complicated relationship. Right on
[31:50] Speaker 2: one hand, exercise can really encourage self esteem because it
[31:55] Speaker 2: improves like. It improves mastery, which we know is very
[31:58] Speaker 2: psychologically important. It improves competence, it improves agency, all things
[32:05] Speaker 2: that give us a real identity boost all things that
[32:09] Speaker 2: are very important. It also improves trust in yourself, like, look,
[32:12] Speaker 2: I can rely on myself to do this, I can
[32:14] Speaker 2: rely on myself to be strong. Research supports this. It
[32:18] Speaker 2: supports the positive link between self esteem and physical activity. However,
[32:25] Speaker 2: sometimes it goes too far and it becomes the only
[32:31] Speaker 2: thing that makes us feel good about ourselves. Not just
[32:33] Speaker 2: the only thing that makes us feel good about ourselves emotionally,
[32:37] Speaker 2: but physically, and that is when it begins to worse
[32:40] Speaker 2: and self esteem because it becomes a performance of worth.
[32:44] Speaker 2: It might feel like exercise only counts if you are
[32:47] Speaker 2: the best at something, or if you are feeling like
[32:51] Speaker 2: you need to pass out at the end, or if
[32:53] Speaker 2: you are getting certain times, hitting certain reps. Progress is
[32:58] Speaker 2: only progress if it is perfect. Another common thought that
[33:01] Speaker 2: begins to bubble up is that rest or rest days
[33:04] Speaker 2: are lazy, which, if you think about it, is you know,
[33:07] Speaker 2: a deeper topic about our relationship with slowing down. But
[33:13] Speaker 2: in these mindsets, really exercise becomes a form of conditional
[33:17] Speaker 2: self acceptance. It becomes this thing whereby you have to
[33:21] Speaker 2: earn feeling good about yourself. This self acceptance, much like
[33:26] Speaker 2: the kind of emotional regulation that comes from exercise, never
[33:29] Speaker 2: sticks around for too long because the goalpost will constantly move,
[33:33] Speaker 2: especially if it also becomes tied in with how you
[33:36] Speaker 2: see yourself physically, if it is a method of changing
[33:42] Speaker 2: physical form and society's ideal physical form is always changing,
[33:47] Speaker 2: like you are never going to be happy no matter
[33:52] Speaker 2: how much control exercise gives you, because again, the goalpost
[33:55] Speaker 2: always changes. Okay, let's move on from this a little
[33:59] Speaker 2: bit and talk about out early experiences with exercise and
[34:03] Speaker 2: how they linger, how they hurt or help our relationship
[34:07] Speaker 2: with movement. This is the thing. I'm deeply fascinated by
[34:12] Speaker 2: it because many people's relationship with exercise, for a lot
[34:15] Speaker 2: of us was formed like way before social media, at
[34:17] Speaker 2: least if like you are in your twenties mid to
[34:20] Speaker 2: late early twenties. Often we experience exercise at school or
[34:25] Speaker 2: like with family as our first experience. And literally the
[34:31] Speaker 2: split that I see in society between people who loved
[34:34] Speaker 2: PE and people who hated PE also tends to split
[34:38] Speaker 2: like how adult love of exercise versus our hatred like it? Genuinely,
[34:44] Speaker 2: so much of it comes down to this childhood experience.
[34:47] Speaker 2: And if you were sitting there being like, I've never
[34:49] Speaker 2: been able to love exercise the way that I thought
[34:51] Speaker 2: I could or the way that others could, it is
[34:53] Speaker 2: worth having a look back at those times. In twenty
[34:56] Speaker 2: twenty two, researchers from Middlesex University published a qualitative piece
[35:01] Speaker 2: of research which essentially did just this. They had like
[35:05] Speaker 2: I don't know how many participants. I think it was
[35:06] Speaker 2: like hundreds of thousands or hundreds or thousands, not hundreds
[35:10] Speaker 2: of thousands, and it basically was like, what did you
[35:14] Speaker 2: think about peer class? Were you embarrassed? Did you have fun?
[35:19] Speaker 2: Were you always picked? When you're not picked? Consistently? They
[35:23] Speaker 2: found negative memories linger into adulthood and it shaped how
[35:28] Speaker 2: people felt in exercise later on. If they would go
[35:31] Speaker 2: into a group class and they felt judged, they would
[35:34] Speaker 2: never go back. If they went to a run club
[35:39] Speaker 2: and they felt like left behind or they didn't have
[35:42] Speaker 2: the right shoes like, they would exit, they wouldn't want
[35:44] Speaker 2: to be there. And this is not surprising. What is
[35:47] Speaker 2: happening in those moments, in those moments of shame, is
[35:51] Speaker 2: that people feel judged and they feel insecure about their ability,
[35:55] Speaker 2: They feel shame about their bodies, They feel shame in
[36:00] Speaker 2: comparison to their peers. And we know that shame is
[36:05] Speaker 2: one of the most powerful motivators, especially for stopping something
[36:10] Speaker 2: and especially for feeling like this isn't this isn't for me,
[36:14] Speaker 2: this isn't something that I'm going to do with my life.
[36:16] Speaker 2: If you learnt that exercise, you know, equated to being
[36:19] Speaker 2: embarrassed in your body, well you know, you're never going
[36:23] Speaker 2: to instinctively want to do it. You're never going to
[36:27] Speaker 2: feel like it's something that naturally kind of comes across
[36:30] Speaker 2: your plate. This is why people, a lot of people
[36:32] Speaker 2: out there can logically understand the benefits of exercise and
[36:36] Speaker 2: still dread it, still fear it, still hate the idea
[36:39] Speaker 2: of it. So this is how I think we regain
[36:43] Speaker 2: that healthy relationship to exercise. This is why it is
[36:46] Speaker 2: so important to do exercise you love. I personally think
[36:51] Speaker 2: a large part of our relationship to exercise in our
[36:54] Speaker 2: teen years and our early like very early twenties, is
[36:57] Speaker 2: exercise is self punishment. Most of us have not yet
[37:02] Speaker 2: formed this idea that movement is freedom or movement is privileged.
[37:06] Speaker 2: Often what we do is we exercise in the way
[37:09] Speaker 2: that we think is going to mold our body into
[37:12] Speaker 2: the thing that is trending at the time. You really
[37:17] Speaker 2: have to find autonomy and delight if you want to
[37:21] Speaker 2: be good at exercise, if you want to feel good
[37:23] Speaker 2: about exercise, if you want to get those psychological benefits,
[37:27] Speaker 2: because there's evidence that pushing yourself to an extreme level
[37:31] Speaker 2: time after time, pushing yourself to do things your body
[37:36] Speaker 2: doesn't want to do and doesn't feel capable of before
[37:39] Speaker 2: it is ready, like genuinely, can sometimes reverse some of
[37:45] Speaker 2: the positive impacts of exercise. There is an initial boost
[37:49] Speaker 2: of being like, wow, look at me, I can do
[37:51] Speaker 2: hard things. There is the initial circulatory boost, the initial
[37:55] Speaker 2: respiratory boost, the initial physical boost. But if you perform
[38:01] Speaker 2: any behavior exercise included out of hatred, the psychological benefit
[38:06] Speaker 2: of it and the emotional benefit of it is always
[38:09] Speaker 2: going to be underscored by that shame, and is always
[38:12] Speaker 2: going to be underscored by that pain. If you do
[38:14] Speaker 2: exercise that you enjoy, even if it is not as strenuous,
[38:19] Speaker 2: you are more likely to keep going with it. You
[38:21] Speaker 2: are more likely to set those benchmarks. You are more
[38:24] Speaker 2: likely to avoid all or nothing thinking and the all
[38:28] Speaker 2: or nothing spiral that sends you into a period of
[38:31] Speaker 2: exercise abstinence. A great way to decipher what exercise might
[38:40] Speaker 2: be your exercise is to think about why you're doing
[38:45] Speaker 2: it and why you enjoy it. Maybe you like walking
[38:48] Speaker 2: because you listen to a podcast while you're doing it.
[38:50] Speaker 2: Maybe you like dancing because it feels expressive. Maybe you
[38:53] Speaker 2: like swimming because it's the only time you can focus.
[38:55] Speaker 2: Maybe you like strength training because it makes you feel strong.
[39:00] Speaker 2: If you genuinely are doing an exercise and you are
[39:02] Speaker 2: sitting on that pilates mat, or you are sitting behind
[39:05] Speaker 2: that bar belt, and the entire time you're like this sucks,
[39:09] Speaker 2: find another exercise. Like there is a million classes. The
[39:13] Speaker 2: amount of videos I see of people doing the most
[39:15] Speaker 2: ridiculously funny I will admit but kind of like seemingly
[39:21] Speaker 2: very fun exercises. It's astounding there is something for everybody.
[39:25] Speaker 2: I literally saw. You know what I've been seeing a
[39:27] Speaker 2: lot is those people with those moon boots that have
[39:30] Speaker 2: like trampolines on the bottom, people doing like trapeze exercise.
[39:35] Speaker 2: You know what class I do at the moment that
[39:37] Speaker 2: I freaking love is like pilates in a sauna. Fitness.
[39:44] Speaker 2: Health and fitness, health and wellness is a billion dollar,
[39:47] Speaker 2: maybe even at this point, trillion dollar money making machine.
[39:50] Speaker 2: You can find. I promise and exercise you enjoy more
[39:53] Speaker 2: than running, or you enjoy more than I don't know,
[39:58] Speaker 2: I don't want to say like specific works wuts, but
[40:00] Speaker 2: more than like weight workouts or like high hit rep workouts.
[40:06] Speaker 2: I also think we need to get out of this
[40:08] Speaker 2: mindset that if you're not amazing at something, if you're
[40:11] Speaker 2: not dying at the gym every day every weekend, like
[40:16] Speaker 2: you're lazy. What causes us to believe that? What's the
[40:19] Speaker 2: danger of that? I know a lot of times where
[40:22] Speaker 2: you know, we're held back by this thought of like, well,
[40:26] Speaker 2: if I'm not doing this very well, like is my
[40:28] Speaker 2: body feeling it? Or if I'm not doing it how
[40:31] Speaker 2: everybody else is doing it, Is it even worth it?
[40:34] Speaker 2: Or am I embarrassing myself by showing up in this
[40:38] Speaker 2: environment where I know I'm the one who knows the least.
[40:42] Speaker 2: This comes down to everything, the impact of comparison, social media, childhood, shame, perfectionism,
[40:51] Speaker 2: all or nothing thinking. I need you to realize that
[40:56] Speaker 2: nobody cares, nobody cares, and your body is for you.
[41:03] Speaker 2: And if you find enjoyment through movement, even if it's
[41:05] Speaker 2: the wrong kind of movement, even if people don't think
[41:08] Speaker 2: you're doing it right, even if you're not doing it
[41:10] Speaker 2: to the level that everybody else is doing it, does
[41:14] Speaker 2: not matter. Your enjoyment and the fact that you are
[41:16] Speaker 2: doing it is the only thing that does. Going slow,
[41:21] Speaker 2: especially if you don't exercise regularly or if you're getting
[41:23] Speaker 2: back into it, is the best way to go far.
[41:26] Speaker 2: There was a study from the Lancet found that just
[41:29] Speaker 2: five extra minutes of exercise and thirty minutes less sitting
[41:33] Speaker 2: time each day will help you live longer. Brisk walks
[41:38] Speaker 2: five minutes a day. That was a reduction I think
[41:42] Speaker 2: in ten percent of premature deaths across one hundred and
[41:46] Speaker 2: thirty five thousand people that is huge, and it just
[41:50] Speaker 2: goes to show us that exercise doesn't need to be
[41:53] Speaker 2: this huge overhaul life commitment. All it requires is a
[41:58] Speaker 2: consistent commitment to your well being. To see the psychological impact,
[42:02] Speaker 2: to see the neurological impact, the emotional impact, the physical impact.
[42:07] Speaker 2: If you do not let your body guide you in
[42:09] Speaker 2: a way that is going to be sustainable and healthy.
[42:12] Speaker 2: If you exercise as a form of self punishment rather
[42:17] Speaker 2: than self respect, I actually just think that all of
[42:21] Speaker 2: those benefits are removed in an instant. You have to
[42:26] Speaker 2: find the exercise you love, the exercise you enjoy, make
[42:30] Speaker 2: it part of your routine as a form of self care.
[42:33] Speaker 2: Putting yourself in an exercise routine that you like, even
[42:36] Speaker 2: if it's not as physically demanding as one you don't personally,
[42:42] Speaker 2: I actually think that's better for you if it means
[42:44] Speaker 2: that you are going okay. This has been a long episode.
[42:48] Speaker 2: If you're listening to this episode at the gym by
[42:50] Speaker 2: the way or on a run, leave a comment. I
[42:53] Speaker 2: need to know, dm me, I need to know if
[42:55] Speaker 2: because I don't know. Kind of fourth waallely, kind of
[42:58] Speaker 2: breaking the dimension here. You're learning about what's happening in
[43:01] Speaker 2: your body whilst you're doing that activity. But to summarize again,
[43:06] Speaker 2: to summarize this episode, exercise feels good for a lot
[43:09] Speaker 2: of reasons. It is not just indorphins, we know, it's
[43:13] Speaker 2: also endo kind of anoids. It's also the pain system.
[43:19] Speaker 2: It's also sematic release, the physical representation of emotional anger, trauma,
[43:28] Speaker 2: pain that is let out through this process. It is
[43:32] Speaker 2: the tangible benchmarks that exercise allows us to set. It
[43:37] Speaker 2: is sematic synchronized movement. It is optic flow over time. Exercise,
[43:44] Speaker 2: regular exercise, consistent exercise is one of the if not
[43:47] Speaker 2: best things other than like not drinking and getting a
[43:50] Speaker 2: good night sleep, you can do for your brain. That
[43:52] Speaker 2: hippocampal volume statistic. You could literally even into old age
[43:56] Speaker 2: reverse aging by one to two years, and that's probably
[44:01] Speaker 2: more going to be greater the more you do it.
[44:04] Speaker 2: Is it better than an antidepressant. No? Is it as
[44:09] Speaker 2: good as an antidepressant, Probably not either. But it is
[44:12] Speaker 2: a very important method for managing well being. It is
[44:17] Speaker 2: never going to be a replacement because it just it
[44:20] Speaker 2: doesn't work that way. It just does. It's just not
[44:23] Speaker 2: how exercise and the yeah, the neurotransmitters and the chemicals
[44:27] Speaker 2: it releases operate in the same way as you know
[44:30] Speaker 2: a biological explanation for depression or anxiety or mental health operates.
[44:35] Speaker 2: As for the role of dancing, yeah pretty cool. One
[44:38] Speaker 2: of the most important exercises, not just like emotionally and physically,
[44:42] Speaker 2: but also like socially. So as to whether like going
[44:45] Speaker 2: to the club is a form of exercise, I think
[44:47] Speaker 2: that one's up for debate, But in terms of the
[44:50] Speaker 2: emotional and social impacts, I think it totally counts. Also
[44:55] Speaker 2: important to remember when exercise can become toxic and can
[44:59] Speaker 2: be dangerous. There is a difference between repetition and doing
[45:06] Speaker 2: exercise because you love it, and compulsion and doing exercise
[45:11] Speaker 2: because it's a coping tool. Remember, like that will just
[45:16] Speaker 2: I think having that relationship to exercise will just further
[45:20] Speaker 2: further integrate some pretty shameful beliefs about your body and
[45:24] Speaker 2: your worth and how worth and self esteem is tied
[45:27] Speaker 2: to looks and tied to your abilities. So that is
[45:32] Speaker 2: something you're dealing with. I will definitely leave some links
[45:34] Speaker 2: down below. I feel like I actually am hearing about
[45:37] Speaker 2: this so much more. Exercise addiction. Exercise is self punishment,
[45:42] Speaker 2: I think is something a lot more people have experience
[45:44] Speaker 2: with then you may think. Then you definitely may think,
[45:48] Speaker 2: but it's definitely something we can change. And if you've
[45:51] Speaker 2: had negative experiences with exercise in the past, whether that's
[45:54] Speaker 2: been because I don't know, you were bullied over it,
[45:58] Speaker 2: it was a painful experience for you, it was a
[46:01] Speaker 2: boring experience for you. Just like getting back out there
[46:04] Speaker 2: and doing a little bit finding something you love. Trying
[46:06] Speaker 2: out as many random ass like classes as you can
[46:10] Speaker 2: is like the best thing you can do. With all
[46:13] Speaker 2: that in mind, that is me done for the day.
[46:16] Speaker 2: Thank you for listening this far. If you made it
[46:17] Speaker 2: this far, leave a little comment down below and spotify
[46:21] Speaker 2: what is your favorite, perhaps most ridiculous exercise class. I
[46:26] Speaker 2: already gave you guys mind. So if you guys are
[46:28] Speaker 2: in London and you see an advertisement for a pilates
[46:32] Speaker 2: class and disauna, know that I'm probably there and you
[46:34] Speaker 2: should definitely come and join me, because it will kill you.
[46:38] Speaker 2: I will say. One of my friends did pass out
[46:40] Speaker 2: in the class the other day and I felt incredibly
[46:44] Speaker 2: terrible for bringing her in and actually the instructors did
[46:48] Speaker 2: not give a single hoot. So maybe, yeah, maybe it
[46:52] Speaker 2: would be best to avoid unless you really like to
[46:55] Speaker 2: suffer through your exercise, which sometimes, honestly, I do enjoy it,
[46:59] Speaker 2: so I know I give it, but sometimes it's fun
[47:02] Speaker 2: to like really see how far you can push yourself.
[47:04] Speaker 2: Thank you, as always to our researcher Lubie Cobertt for
[47:07] Speaker 2: her assistance and her great research skills and her help
[47:10] Speaker 2: with this episode. Make sure that if you are listening,
[47:14] Speaker 2: you give an episode on Netflix a try. You go
[47:18] Speaker 2: and watch us over there, just so you can say
[47:20] Speaker 2: that you've done it. Make sure you're following us on
[47:22] Speaker 2: Instagram as well, so you know when new episodes come out,
[47:25] Speaker 2: and you get the summaries, and you get to see
[47:27] Speaker 2: when we're doing events near you. If you want to
[47:30] Speaker 2: come and meet other listeners of the Psychology of your Twenties,
[47:32] Speaker 2: if you want to see what we're up to, that
[47:34] Speaker 2: is where you can find out all about that. We
[47:36] Speaker 2: also have a substack if that is if you prefer
[47:39] Speaker 2: reading over listening or over watching. I will leave everything
[47:42] Speaker 2: in the description, but again, thank you for listening to
[47:44] Speaker 2: this episode. I hope it enlightened you. But until next time,
[47:48] Speaker 2: be safe, be kind, be gentle with yourself. We will
[47:51] Speaker 2: talk very very soon.

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