But it works both ways: If exercise can improve what you’ve got, lack of exercise can contribute to a mental health downturn. In fact, just 10 days without fitness can cause our brains to start losing cognitive function, says Dr. Nadelman. Then there’s this particularly unhelpful catch-22: When mood is low (or stress is high), motivation to move is often low too—yet if you don’t move, your mood could suffer even more. While it’s completely normal (even expected) to feel stagnant and uninspired to sweat when you’re anxious, foggy, stressed, or depressed, the truth is, it’s more essential than ever to stay active in difficult times. What can happen to your mental health when you’re too sedentary? Experts explain how lack of movement can negatively impact our brains—and why it’s so important for both mind and mood to squeeze in a brisk walk, quick sweat, or other physical activity every day. To fight against this phenomenon, you don’t have to spend hours running on a treadmill. Firsin says it’s enough to track your steps: Make sure you get up and move frequently by using a standing desk and going for walks. RELATED: You Can Do This Stairs Workout in 15 Minutes—at Home When we sit on the sofa all afternoon or bail on a yoga class with a friend, those not-so-great emotions fester and intensify, creating a cycle of Debbie Downer thinking. RELATED: 3 Low-Impact Types of Exercise That Relieve Stress While Building Strength “Physical activity improves cognitive functioning via neuroplasticity, as well as increased synthesis and expression of neuropeptides and hormones,” Dr. Nadelman says. “These substances help with neuroplasticity and neuronal repair.” Without even low-impact fitness, our brain can feel sluggish and tired, making it difficult to muster up motivation or deliver on responsibilities and deadlines. The next time you feel as if your day is dragging, consider doing a quick cardio workout for 15 minutes. In addition to long-term wellness, the burst alone will perk you up. Once these thoughts begin, they’re tough to beat. It becomes a cycle of putting ourselves down, not having enough energy to work out, and then feeling worse afterward. However, when we don’t have a regular routine of physical activity, our brain releases the stress hormone, cortisol, making it trickier to manage our emotions effectively. “Modern-day stressors are usually not transient and increase cortisol in a sustained manner,” she says. “This increase in cortisol has neurotoxic effects on the brain, which can damage the hippocampus by decreasing neuropeptide BDNF expression, and lead to depression.” With aerobic exercise, we lower our neuroendocrine reactivity and reduce our biological response to stress, thus naturally feeling calmer and more in control.
