Exercise is one of those things we all know we should be doing but quite often are not. I used to be that person. For most of my adult life I only ever exercised regularly in bursts but never really maintained a cadence with it. After the birth of my second baby when my mental health took a deep dive and my tolerance for stress crashed. That was when I really understood the powerful benefits of a regular exercise routine. It was a game changer for me and since that time I have been a convert and rarely skip exercise. I was late to the party and I really wish I had discovered the benefits of exercise sooner.

Here are five scientific reasons to convince you to get regularly moving if you don’t already. Exercise helps with:

1. Getting your body to make more serotonin. This means less irritability, aggression, sadness, insomnia and carb cravings. When you exercise you raise the availability of tryptophan to be taken up into your brain to make serotonin.

2. Raising brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF is made in our brains to help it regenerate. It plays a big role in mood, thinking, decision making, memory and learning. Exercise increasing BDNF means shaper thinking and decision making when it counts in high pressure and stressful situations.

3. Producing anandamide. Anandamide is an endocannabinoid produced by the body that gives you that “runners high” post exercise. Hence the feel good vibes post-exercise.

4. Lifting beta endorphin levels to also contribute to the feel good feeling you experience post exercise. The more vigorous and cardiovascular the exercise the better for getting this happening.

5. Lowering inflammation in the body of people that have low grade inflammation in their body and are prone to depression. Regular exercise has an anti-inflammatory effect because it lowers the production of an inflammatory substance called quinolinic acid. Translation: if you exercise, there are lots of good chemical reactions happening in your body which help you to feel good.

For those of you that are not exercising but know you should I urge you to take the leap and begin a regular practice. I know this can be hard for women with young children but trying some of these things could be helpful:

Put kids in a pram and walking long distances or running
Incorporate movement into play with kids indoors or outdoors. Chasing kids around the park or kicking the ball together means is a great two birds one stone approach to play and exercise.
Do exercise classes via youtube or fitness apps at home and getting the kids involved works well too.
Take little ones to mum and bub exercise classes at your local gym
Get up early and exercise while the kids still sleep.

For those of you that do get to exercise kid-free:
Schedule time in your diary before or after work and commit to it like you would any other appointment you had.
Lay out your exercise gear the night before so all you have to do is get it on and walk out the door
If that is still not enough to get you exercising wear your exercise gear to sleep. That way when you wake up if you don’t exercise you feel like a loser for wearing active wear but not being active!

Easing in and building up your fitness will reward you in many ways. Particularly if you struggle with dealing with stress, high pressure situations and if you wrestle with your mental health. The benefits for mental wellbeing are vast and the role that exercise plays in preventing metabolic diseases like diabetes and heart disease are well researched too.