If I go 3 days without exercising, I start experiencing brain fog and get depressed & more anxious. When I workout again, I gain mental clarity, become more motivated to take on the day, and like 75% of the self-deprecating thoughts I experience go away. Why does this happen to me? What’s the science behind this?
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There are a lot of layers to your question 😅
There is the ‚excercise increases blood circulation and is good for you‘ when done right Angle. Many more biologically versed commenters have explained that better than I could.
Then there is the ‚Meaning angle‘ that the way we are socialized is that almost constantly the expectations you feel is you should do something ‚ meaningful‘. Both you and the society Around you have accepted exercise as meaningful so if you don’t do it it might actually make you feel guilty or stressed which again impacts how your body feels. Don’t underestimate the physiological impact of mental stress on your body. It’s absolutely real.
And then there is the ‚psychological ‚ part of the equation. I can’t speak to how you feel, what makes you happy, how you see your life (I don’t know you personally 😊) but there is a thing our body does when going into ‚focus/performance‘ mode. It shuts down a lot of the more complex long term planning thoughts to focus on what your doing right now. To use a little survival simplification your body is saying „all your identity thoughts won’t matter if we don’t get away from the Tiger NOW!“ 😉
So in a sense workout is kind of putting all your anxieties aside in favor of the here and now. But it’s like drowning out a voice with loud music. The voice isn’t actually gone. Louder noises just shut it out. In that part exercise can help you break out of an anxiety spiral or find a break but to feel less anxious/self conscious/ stressed that is still up to you caring for yourself (with help like friends or a nice therapist) to improve.
How that was interesting/helpful. Its a layered question as I said 😁🤗
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