Healthy is happy: The power of exercise

Healthy is happy: The power of exercise

By Editorial Staff
ToYourHealth.com

“Happiness does not come from doing easy work, but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best effort.” — Theodore Isaac Rubin, American psychologist and author.

When you’re unhappy, exercise may be the furthest thing from your mind. For many people, exercise takes a major back seat to a melancholy song or movie, a gallon of ice cream or a darkened bedroom where you can wallow in your discontent. But research suggests exercise is actually a great choice to increase your happiness … and it doesn’t even take that much to do the trick.

Working out for a mere 10 minutes a day or one day a week boosts happiness compared to not exercising, suggests a new review study in the appropriately named Journal of Happiness Studies. Exercise was strongly linked to happiness, and the connection existed regardless of age, type of exercise performed and other variables. Simply put, people who exercised reported being happier than people who didn’t.

So remember, the next time you’re down in the dumps, don’t avoid exercise; embrace it. Walk, jog, hit the gym; practice yoga … whatever makes you happy! Talk to your doctor for more information and to help outline an exercise program specific to your health needs and fitness goals.