Latest / feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell / how exercise saved my life

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how exercise saved my life · feel your feelings with Ethan Jewell

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Just earlier this year, I found myself at one of the lowest
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places I've ever been. Emotionally, I didn't exactly
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know what to do. I didn't know who to turn to.
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I didn't know what habits to start.
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I felt like I had already tried it all.
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I'd been to therapy. I tried processing my emotions.
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Yet I always found myself at the same place.
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However, there was one thing that I hadn't tried, and one
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thing that I'd heard so many people say had changed their
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lives, and that was exercise. I simply didn't believe that I
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had it in me. I didn't think that I could make
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it a habit. But now, one year later, I can
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confidently say that exercise saved my life.
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My name is Ethan Jewell and welcome back to Feel Your
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Feelings. My whole life I have never been
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a fan of the whole culture around working out.
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I always thought the people who went to the gym were not people
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that I would want to be around. I always thought that it was so
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pretentious and that there was really no benefit to working out
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other than just trying to look good.
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I I didn't understand why people would want to dedicate so much
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time to just lifting weights or going on jogs until I uncovered
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the incredible benefits that exercise can have on mental
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health. You see, our physical and mental
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well beings are directly linked. Many people, including myself,
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know this. But what I didn't realize at the
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time is just how linked they are.
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Just how much exercise can help your mental health?
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You know that I'm all about processing emotions.
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I'm all about understanding and feeling feelings and then
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processing them out of the body. That's one of the whole reasons
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I started this podcast. Well, physical exercise can be
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used as a way to process emotions and can be used very,
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very effectively. It's a way to get the feelings
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out. I mean, have you ever screamed
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into a pillow or cried really, really hard and then immediately
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felt better after? That's because both of these are
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a way to get feelings out. It's an exertion.
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When you when you scream out your feelings or you cry out
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your feelings, you are exerting yourself and it's physically
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getting those feelings out. Exercise has a similar effect.
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When we engage in exercise, it physically exerts us the same
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way that crying or screaming may, and this can help process
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the emotions out of our body in a physical way.
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We can focus on the exercise and be able to effectively process.
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So today let's talk about the benefits of exercise on our
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mental health, how it affects mood regulation, how it causes
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feel good chemicals to have short and long term benefits,
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and how building a resilience to doing difficult things is very,
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very key to improving our mental health.
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So thank you for being here and let's talk about it.
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You may have heard the word endorphin before in a psychology
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class or in conversation. However, what does it really
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mean? See, endorphins are essentially
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the body's natural mood lifters, often referred to as one of our
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feel good chemicals. Exercise is like a secret
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handshake that encourages our brains to release these feel
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good chemicals into the body. The reason this happens is that
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our brain recognizes that our body is undergoing some kind of
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stress, whether the exercise is jogging or weightlifting, and it
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releases endorphins in response to this.
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You see, endorphins interact with the receptors in our brain
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that reduce how much pain we feel.
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It's almost like our body's natural painkillers.
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In fact, the receptors that endorphins interact with are the
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same ones that bind some pain medicines.
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Unlike with many painkillers though, this process of natural
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endorphin release does not lead to dependence.
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Instead, it leads to a reduction of stress, boosted self esteem,
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improved sleep, and help fighting feelings of anxiety and
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depression. These endorphins also trigger a
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highly positive overall feeling in the body, which feels highly
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euphoric and energizing. According to Doctor Deborah
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Bruce, research has shown that exercise is an effective but
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often under used treatment for depression.
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Simply by engaging in exercise we can force our brain to
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produce feel good chemicals that can help battle negative
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feelings, feelings of depression, feelings of anxiety,
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other difficult feelings that mental illnesses may bring.
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It's almost like a cheat code to make your brain feel good, and
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it's not just a temporary good feeling.
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I used to think that all exercise did was release a short
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hit of feel good chemicals, and then everything went back to
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baseline. But according to the National
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Library of Medicine, exercise increases blood circulation to
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the brain, leading to better brain health.
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Also, exercise impacts the limbic system, which controls
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motivation and mood, and the amygdala, which helps control
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stress. Furthermore, exercise improves
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mental health long term by reducing anxiety, depression,
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and negative mood and improving self esteem and cognitive
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function. Exercise literally makes your
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brain healthier. It makes everything work better.
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It's like oiling a machine to keep it running well.
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By improving your brain health, you can help improve certain
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mental illnesses. Combine this with that release
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of feel good chemicals and the impacts and the benefits on your
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mental health can be extreme and it doesn't have to be anything
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crazy. A good goal to aim for is just
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30 minutes of moderate activity three days a week.
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A brisk walk, a short jog, or occasional weightlifting
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sessions could be enough. I cannot stress how beneficial
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physical movement is for your mental health.
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For me personally, I have felt the incredible benefits of
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exercise. I've struggled with depression
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for years and it causes me brain fog, lack of motivation, and
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overall feelings of despair, self doubt and pain.
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Over the last year I've added regular exercise into my routine
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and I feel a world of difference.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming that exercise is some
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miracle that will instantly fix your mental health.
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However, on days that I exercise, I feel more energetic,
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I feel less despair and I feel more self-confidence.
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It's affected even small things that I didn't think I could
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change, like the way I interact with people socially and the
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amount of eye contact I make. It's made me aware of my
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feelings and how I process them. It's given me a healthy outlet
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to turn to whenever I'm having hard days.
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I know that if I go and exercise, if I move my body, at
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the very least I'll receive some feel good chemicals and it will
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help alter my outlook for the day, and it can do the same to
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you. It's also built up my resilience
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to tough times as I just went through.
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There are many direct benefits to mental health from working
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out. However, one overlooked benefit
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is the fact that makes difficult times or situations feel more
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bearable and less overwhelming. Exercise is not an easy thing to
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do. Anyone who's tried it knows
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this. It takes commitment.
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It takes discipline. It takes determination.
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It is difficult to show up several times a week and make an
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active effort to move. Depression and other mental
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illnesses can make it feel nearly impossible to complete
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physical tasks. My personal experience with this
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was a difficult battle. Many days the last thing I
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wanted to do was exercise, and often, especially in the
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beginning, I simply didn't. But then I reminded myself, we
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don't need to get it perfect the first time.
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Many people seem to have this idea that they can only do
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something if they're perfect at it from the start.
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But this couldn't be farther from the truth.
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The entire point of trying new things is to build habits.
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You are going to fail. You are going to have days that
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feel impossible, but you need to start small and build, otherwise
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you will never start improving. Some days all I could muster up
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was a few push ups, but I still showed up.
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Some days, all I could do was walk around my house, but I
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still showed up. And I believe that you can do
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the same. Start ridiculously small and
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build that discipline, build that resilience to doing
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difficult things, even when it's the last thing that you want to
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do. To this day, I have mornings
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where I wake up feeling like the weight of the world is crushing
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me. I'm riddled with anxiety and
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trampled by depression. However, I spent the last year
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building small habits and showing up, which makes it
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possible to keep moving. I can exercise and feel those,
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feel good chemicals and keep going.
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Remember, the goal with your mental illness and your mental
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health should not be to immediately get rid of it.
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Instead, you should try to live with it and keep moving forward.
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By building up this coexistence, we are able to spend time
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understanding our feelings more and eventually work towards
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healing altogether. Exercise is an amazing way to
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start doing this. It teaches you to keep moving,
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to keep working, to believe in yourself, and to show up for you
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every single day. Even on days where I feel
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horribly depressed, where I am riddled with anxiety, I know
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that I can do at least one thing for myself today and that is
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move my body. So please consider the benefits
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that exercising could have on your mental health.
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It is proven through studies and through research to literally
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improve mental illnesses. It's almost too good to be true.
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And don't just take my word for it, Do your own research.
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I want to remind you I'm not a mental health professional.
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This is not a diagnosis or a cure that I'm recommending.
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I'm just a guy who has felt big feelings and has tried many
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different things to improve my mental health and I can tell you
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with confidence, Exercise is the best decision and the best habit
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that I have ever made. So please consider doing this
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for yourself. Consider starting this journey
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today and start small. Give yourself grace, feel those
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feelings and keep moving forward.
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The benefits are amazing and I hope that you can experience it
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yourself. That's gonna wrap it up for
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today's episode. Thank you for being here.
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If you need help feeling your feelings outside of exercise, I
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highly recommend checking out my music on all platforms under the
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name of Ethan Jewel. And I almost guarantee it'll
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make you cry. Also, please shoot me a message
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on my Instagram at Jewel Boy with an I under score and let me
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know what you thought about today's episode.
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Thank you for being here. Thank you for understanding the
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benefits that exercise can have on your mental health.
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And as always, thank you for feeling your feelings.
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I'll see you next time.