The ominous fear, isolation and overall tension experienced by many has impacted every age demographic. A group of particular concern is young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. A recent survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control found that 75% of the 5,470 young adults surveyed had one or more adverse mental or behavioral health symptoms.

Mental health agencies and advocates around the world continue to investigate effective support strategies for young adults and other vulnerable populations. Experts agree that seeking the help of a licensed mental health professional is critical step in overcoming these challenges.

In addition to professional intervention, specific, daily health-related habits have been found to aid in improving aspects of mental health such as mood, self-esteem and response to stress. Exercise has been shown to be particularly effective.  

The physical benefits of exercise are well known, and research points to a growing list of physiological, neurological and even psychological benefits associated with mental health. As a health and exercise professional, I have seen these benefits firsthand, particularly with young adults.

Below are some of the ways regular exercise has been found to positively impact mood, stress response and overall mental health.

Exercise Increases “feel good” Hormones and Neurotransmitters

Vigorous exercise creates immediate changes in “feel good” neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, positively impacting how you feel, think and act. Norepinephrine, a hormone and a neurotransmitter that increases in concentration during exercise, can protect your brain from the negative impacts of stress. Exercise also promotes an increase in endogenous opioids that improve mood and a sense of well- being. These “endorphins” are one of the factors behind the “runner’s high.”

Exercise Rewires the Stress Response

Even though it makes us feel great, exercise is recognized by the human brain and body as physiological stress. Increasing your heart rate and challenging nearly every system in your body is a far cry from its preferred state of homeostasis. Researchers have discovered, however, that this intentional stress created by voluntary exercise can suppress the sympathetic nervous system’s response to future stressful events.

The human response to stress involves a relationship between the highly evolved and logical prefrontal cortex and the more primitive, reactive amygdala. It appears that both acute and regular exercise help to dampen the response of the amygdala, allowing the more logical prefrontal cortex to run the show.

Exercise Improves Self-esteem

In addition to the positive physiological and neurological benefits, regular exercise is associated with improved self-esteem. Additionally, a more positive outlook combined with improved body perception and overall physical competence results in young adults feeling more adept and confident.

For young adults to reap the mental health benefits of exercise, it’s important that they participate in a way that is safe, effective and enjoyable. Although mental health benefits have been observed with various frequencies and intensities of exercise participation, current industry guidelines encourage healthy adults ages 18 to 65 to participate in moderate-intensity exercise (64-76% of heart rate max) for 30-60 minutes per day, on at least three days per week, or vigorous intensity aerobic exercise (77-95% of heart rate max) for 20-60 minutes per day, on at least three days per week. Performing resistance training at least two days per week is also recommended.

How to Make Exercise a Want to Instead of a Have to

In 20 years of helping people of all ages make exercise part of their life, I’ve found the following strategies are helpful in creating a fun and engaging exercise environment so young adults want to participate.

• Make it social. Young adults are often in a phase of life where they recognize the importance of expanding their social circles. When this can be done in an exercise setting, the activity becomes more fun and relevant to their lives.
• Encourage them to find something they enjoy. As is true for any age, people are more likely to stick with something they enjoy. Encourage young adults to try different activities and find something they enjoy.
• Highlight how exercise makes them feel. Weight loss, improved physical performance and other positive “side effects” of regular exercise can take time to realize. However, a single bout of exercise can immediately improve mood, stress levels and other factors of mental health. Encourage young adults to focus on these aspects of an exercise program, in addition to long-term goals.

In addition, this age demographic may be in the process of pursuing major life milestones such as finding a career, selecting a mate, starting a family, etc. If they focus only on the long-term benefits of exercise, it’s easy to deprioritize this highly beneficial habit while they deal with the major decisions in front of them.

When individuals grow to value exercise as something that can immediately improve their mood, outlook and decision-making abilities, it becomes a relevant tool within the context of their life.

It should be noted that exercise alone is not a “cure,” and experts recommend young adults seek professional intervention if they have mental health concerns. However, promoting healthy lifestyle habits like exercise may offer powerful support on the road to improving the mental health of young adults.

You are tapping into an internal mechanism for better health and fitness. It’s simple, it’s free and it’s always there. 

Have you ever thought about your breathing? Most people don’t. Breathing is an automatic function of the body, but you can also control it. You must breathe to live and so your body will do everything it can to make that happen. But your environment, stress and how you breathe can alter and even impede that process. 

The good news is that simply practicing nasal breathing can turn it all around.

Taking slower, longer breaths in and out through your nose can help with everything from reducing anxiety to boosting athletic performance. Basically, nasal breathing slows your rate of breathing down, which means your body doesn’t have to work as hard to get oxygen into your bloodstream. This is great for overall health and athletic performance, according to a 2018 study in the International Journal of Kinesiology and Sports Science. 

Changing your breathing can feel overwhelming but starting with awareness and practicing tested methods can help. Nestor suggests inhaling for a count of five seconds and exhaling for five seconds to slow your breathing. Navy seals favor box breathing in which you inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds and hold for four seconds. It has a calming effect and helps to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest part of our nervous system. 

“When we breathe correctly, we have a sufficient amount of carbon dioxide, and our breathing is quiet, controlled and rhythmic,” explains  Patrick McKeown in The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster and Fitter You. “If we are overbreathing, our breathing is heavy, more intense and erratic, and we exhale too much carbon dioxide, leaving our body literally gasping for oxygen.”

The Wim Hof Method, which is a mix of breathing and cold therapy, has not only caught the attention of major media outlets and celebrities but it has also been tested by science and determined that the training boosts your immunity. 

“The present proof-of-principle study demonstrates that the sympathetic nervous system and immune system can be voluntarily influenced through practicing techniques that are relatively easy to learn within a short time frame,” write the researchers of a study published in the National Library of Medicine. “It therefore could have important implications for the treatment of a variety of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, especially auto-immune diseases.”

If you’re looking for an edge to your training or a way to simply feel less stressed, start noticing your breathing, and close your mouth.

Of course, while running is easy, accessible and beneficial, you have to know how to do it properly so you can enjoy it for years. One of the ways you can help prepare your body to perform its best once you start running is to first perform a dynamic warm-up, which offers the following six benefits:

1. For many runners, a warm-up may consist of only a few stretches or some slow jogging before starting to move at a steady running pace. While this is better than nothing, it does not adequately prepare muscles for the forces experienced during a run. If you run regularly or are returning to running after taking some time off, avoid the risk of an injury and make your workouts as effective as possible with a dynamic warm-up.

2. Cold temperatures require a car’s engine to idle for a few minutes to allow it to warm up before driving. Warming up a car is a fitting analogy for the benefits of a dynamic warm-up; allowing a car’s engine to run for a few minutes ensures that oil is circulated through the engine to lubricate the pistons responsible for generating the power that makes the car go. Muscle, fascia and elastic connective tissues are more elastic at higher temperatures, which allows easier, unrestricted motion of the joints used in exercise. Taking the time to perform a complete dynamic warm-up, starting with slow movements before progressing to rapid, explosive exercises, allows blood to circulate to the working muscles. This also activates the central nervous system (CNS) so it functions more efficiently to control the muscles involved in running.

3. There are two general types of muscle fibers in your body: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow-twitch fibers use oxygen to metabolize free fatty acids into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chemical used for energy, via a process called lipolysis. Slow-twitch fibers are mostly involved with endurance activities such as running for distance. Conversely, fast-twitch fibers use carbohydrates (called glycogen once it is stored in muscle cells), either with or without oxygen, to produce ATP. Because they can generate more force than slow-twitch fibers, fast-twitch fibers are used when muscles need to produce greater amounts of force. Glycolysis, which is the process of metabolizing glycogen to ATP, takes less time than fatty acid oxidation; for this reason, it is the primary source of energy when running at a moderate-to-fast pace. The different movements of a dynamic warm-up helps facilitate glycolysis so that you can produce energy efficiently for your run.

4. Several hormones, including cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine (commonly called adrenaline because they are produced in the adrenal glands), are used to help metabolize fats and carbohydrates to ATP. The gradually increasing intensity of a dynamic warm-up allows the adrenal complex to produce these hormones so that you have the energy to fuel your run.

5. Reciprocal inhibition refers to the physiological action that occurs when the shortening or contracting of one muscle sends a signal to the muscle on the other side of a joint to lengthen. The controlled contractions of a dynamic warm-up apply reciprocal inhibition to allow muscles to lengthen and joints to lubricate to properly prepare for activity. In addition, joint capsules and ligament endings contain numerous sensory receptors that measure and identify pressure, movement and the rate of movement of their respective joints. Slow, controlled movements through a complete range of motion allows the nervous system to learn how to regulate the degrees of freedom, or amount of movement, allowed in each individual joint.

6. A byproduct of glycolysis is carbon dioxide, which causes your rate of breathing to increase because the lungs are trying to expire carbon dioxide while drawing in more oxygen to use for energy production. In addition, glycogen stored in muscle cells attaches to water. As glycogen is metabolized to ATP, it releases that water in the cells. Low-intensity body-weight exercises use free fatty acids for fuel; as the exercises of a dynamic warm-up become more intense, the working muscles gradually start using glycolysis to produce ATP. This causes your breathing to speed up and sweat to start appearing, which is a signal that your muscles are ready to go, the warm-up is over and it’s time to start running!

Whether you’re a longtime runner looking for a more effective way to train or you’re a beginning runner, the following dynamic warm-up will help make sure that every step you take counts. Note: These exercises are also very effective for an active recovery workout the day after a really hard training session, when your muscles are still sore and you want to move but you don’t want to overwork your body. In addition, they can also be used for a stand-alone mobility workout on those days when you might be dragging a little bit and want to work out but don’t want to push yourself too hard.