Exercise can help us cope with stress, it's a coping mechanism. If exercise is taken regularly, it can improve our mood, increase self-esteem and self-confidence. Exercise can also help relax, help reduce anxiety and mild depression. Exercise is also good for and helps with sleep, which is often disrupted by stress and anxiety.

Stress and our Ability to Cope

When stress interferes with our ability to cope, exercise can help. When we feel better, our mind will too. Exercise when used as a coping mechanism can be the difference between us learning to cope and us not coping at all, but we should be careful, because doing too much exercise means we may become hooked.

Moderate Exercise

Exercise should be moderate. When used as a coping mechanism it can help us get back into our lives and can help us improve physically and mentally. Exercise is important because it helps to maintain mental fitness and reduce stress. It can also help us to reduce fatigue, improve concentration and alertness, and enhance our overall cognitive function. Exercise when incorporated and taken as part of a healthier lifestyle, acts as a positive coping mechanism.

Ilana Estelle is a mental health and wellbeing advocate who combines educational insight with her personal experience of living with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. She holds diplomas in Counselling, Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Stress Management. Through her writing, Ilana supports others in navigating their emotional, mental, and physical health challenges. In addition to writing for The CP Diary, her work has appeared in healthy lifestyle magazines. Ilana is also the author of three books: Cerebral Palsy: A Story – Finding the Calm After the Storm, Spirituality, Healing and Me, and Survival: The Covid Years – Time for Change.

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4 comments on “Exercise, a Coping Mechanism”

  1. The benefits of regular exercise to help lift our mood are well documented. Exercise can increase self-confidence, and reduce symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety.

    It can certainly improve sleep. When I finally get over the flu, I am going to make a concerted effort to exercise more.

    1. Thanks. Yes, of course. You're absolutely right. Where exercise helps reduce symptoms associated with mild depression, it becomes a coping mechanism and and that helps us cope with our depression, also.

      I would always advocate exercise in those circumstances, but it is important we don't overdo it. When we come to rely on it too much, it can become addictive.

  2. Exercise has become something that I have come to enjoy doing, which is a surprise. I have had to overcome many obstacles, like being extremely paranoid about people watching me do things, and being extremely self conscious.

    My parents made me neurotic about pretty much everything, seeing as they were always watching me and criticising pretty much everything I did. They both had extreme mental health issues that they never really addressed and put us through hell in the process.

    I'm hoping and praying that exercise will help me work through many issues to become a healthy and productive member of society once again.

    1. Thanks Randy. Being 'paranoid about people watching me do things.' You could have written this response for me.

      I used to have my father stand behind me watching me walk telling me to pick my foot up and stop dragging my leg.

      I've had the same problems for years. Although I have got better at walking in front of people, people watching me did manifest itself in problems around my handwriting, although I already had an issue without realising.

      It sounds as though you're doing well with it Randy. Yes, exercise helps us lose weight, as a coping mechanism it can help us cope reasonably well as long as we do it within moderation.

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