Tuesday's Psychology Tips: A Natural Anti-depressant, Anti-anxiety and Addiction Medication Anyone Can Try

Interesting Fact: Exercise = a natural antidepressant. Side effects = increased joy, health and weight control. Dr. Barbara Lavi on HealthTap

Thought for the Day: Tuesdays are reserved for Psychology Tips. I have been sharing 140 character tips that I have created or 400 character answers to questions I have responded to HealthTap. If you have not visited their site, I would recommend that you do.  Specialists from around the country share their knowledge 24/7. If you or someone you know suffers from depression, anxiety or an addiction, you may want to share this psychology tip.

     Today's tip relates to the convergence of physical and mental health. Most people think of exercise as an essential ingredient of physical fitness. However, many people do not realize that exercise is equally important to our mental health and psychological well being. Read on to see why...

     If you are depressed,  you may not feel like getting up and exercising. However, if you push yourself and do it anyway, exercise can help you fight your depression. Similarly, if you are recovering from an addiction, get some exercise. It will increase your endorphins. By activating the  feel good sensations in your brain, the same ones that are stimulated when you take drugs, you can reduce your craving for drugs.  Exercise can also help if you suffer from anxiety by reducing stress. 

     Given the benefits, I often encourage my clients to use exercise as an adjunct to psychotherapy. Although exercise alone cannot resolve the issues you need to speak with a therapist about, it can help you feel better, reduce the need for medication and help speed up the process of psychotherapy. It can become a healthy addiction, however, the joy, health and weight control are not such bad side effects!
     Here's how the Tip appeared on HealthTap:

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