What positive effects does physical exercise have on mental health?
The positive impact of physical exercise on mental health is mainly manifested in the following aspects:
(A) improve the emotional state
Emotional state is the most important index to measure the influence of physical exercise on mental health. Living in a complex society, people often have emotional reactions such as sadness, tension and depression, and physical exercise can shift individual unpleasant consciousness, emotions and behaviors, so that people can get rid of troubles and pains. Due to various exams, mutual competition and worries about future job assignment, college students often have persistent anxiety. Regular physical exercise can reduce their anxiety.
Improve intellectual function
Regular physical exercise can improve a person's intellectual function, not only improve the exerciser's attention, memory, reaction ability, thinking ability and imagination, but also make him emotionally stable, cheerful and tired. These non-intellectual components can promote a person's intellectual function.
(C) to establish a good self-concept
Self-concept is an individual's overall subjective evaluation of his body, thoughts and emotions, which consists of many self-understandings, including "who I am", "what I stand for", "what I like" and "what I don't like". Because insisting on physical exercise can make people strong and energetic, physical exercise is very important to improve people's physical appearance and self-esteem.
Body image refers to the body image formed in the mind. Appearance disorders are common in normal people. It is reported that 54% of college students are not satisfied with their weight. Compared with men, women tend to overestimate their height and underestimate their weight, and obese individuals are more prone to physical appearance and physical self-esteem disorders. Physical self-esteem mainly includes a person's evaluation of his exercise ability, physical appearance (attraction), physical resistance and health status. Body image and body self-esteem are related to the overall self-concept (see Figure 9- 1). Dissatisfaction with body image will reduce individual self-esteem (self-esteem refers to the positive degree of self-concept), and lead to insecurity and depression. Research shows that muscle strength is positively correlated with physical self-esteem, emotional stability, extroversion and self-confidence, and strengthening strength training will significantly enhance individual self-concept.
Cultivate a strong will.
Will quality refers to a person's determination, tenacity, self-control, courage, tenacity and initiative. Will quality is not only manifested in the process of overcoming difficulties, but also cultivated in the process of overcoming difficulties. In physical exercise, we should constantly overcome objective difficulties (such as changes in climatic conditions, sports difficulties or unexpected obstacles). ) and subjective difficulties such as timidity and fear, fatigue and sports injuries. ). The more the exerciser tries to overcome the subjective and objective difficulties, the more he can cultivate good will quality. The quality of strong will cultivated from exercise can be transferred to daily study, life and work.
(5) eliminate fatigue
Fatigue is a comprehensive symptom, which is related to human physiological and psychological factors. When a person's mood is negative or the task is beyond his ability, physical and psychological fatigue will soon appear. The continuous intense study pressure of college students can easily lead to physical and mental fatigue and neurasthenia. Maintaining a good emotional state and participating in moderate-intensity physical exercise can relax the body and mind.
(6) Treatment of mental illness
Physical exercise is a recognized psychotherapy method. According to an American survey, among 1750 psychologists, 80% think that physical exercise is one of the effective means to treat depression, and 60% think that physical exercise should be used as a treatment to eliminate anxiety. Among college students, many people have anxiety and depression because of setbacks in study and other aspects. Physical exercise can slow down or eliminate these psychological diseases.