Future Habits Archives - Page 15 of 22

The power of the mind has always been a massive interest. So I did my own research on the interesting benefit running can have on the mind.

What Made Me Start Running

Long-distance running was a mainstay during my school years. We always dreaded this day with our PE teacher. He was very old school and would bark at us the whole way around the field. Lucky for me I happened to be quite good. This led to my selection to go on many cross country events. I knew nothing of how fast I should go or when to conserve energy. So I tended to just save my energy and have a Mo Farah style late dash or if you’re a bit old the famous Kelly Holmes last-ditch sprint.

My running days were a distant past as I got older. That was until the year of the virus. A less active lifestyle started putting on the pounds. Acid Reflux especially was starting to affect my health. I was concerned so I went for a blood check-up. I was a bit apprehensive in all honesty but when the news came back. To my surprise, I had cholesterol levels that were doing me no favours. My love of sugar and my new inactive lifestyle were to blame.

With a hint of fear behind me, I got to work to change this cholesterol reading. Then a yearning came from nowhere to run.

A book called Born To Run by Christopher McDougall which shows the interesting benefits running has on the mind of the Tarahumara Native people of Mexico. Was a favourite of mine over the summer. This gave extra incentive to dust off my running shoes and go running.

With this in mind, I bought a Fitbit and the next day I started to run.

What’s The Article Goal

Within this article, I will explain my health and physical improvements I have developed through running. Digging deeper I will discuss the positive benefits running has had on my mind. Through new research, I will back up how running can benefit all of us to improve our own lives.

The Health Benefits Of Running

The whole reason I started to run was to lower my cholesterol. To my amassment, some other health benefits quickly improved as well

Lowers resting heart rate
Lowers Blood pressure
Increases a strong immune system
Diabetes levels
Cardiovascular fitness

With so many health benefits contributing to my overall health I wondered why I didn’t take up running sooner.

New Research On Running

The interesting benefit running can have on the mind — Photo by Brian Erickson on Unsplash

Research on the running benefits has been vast. Studies have proved that chemicals released into the body can help improve people with mental health problems such as depression to feel an improved state. Also, epidemiological and clinical research demonstrates that exercise reduces the risk for mood disorders, degree of symptoms, and incidence of relapse.

New research has dug even deeper to prove this research correct. They did so by discovering how molecules change when doing aerobic exercise. They announced it as the hope molecule. It showed the positive effects exercise such as running can have on our mental health.

Participants found this had success in treating depression. As well, aerobic exercise of moderate intensity, done 3 times weekly, for a minimum of 9 weeks. Helped treat depression with a high success rate.

This is amazing news for anyone suffering mentally from mood disorders like depression for example. I’ve even seen in myself the positive effects mentally that running 3 to 5 times a week can have.

Let’s say that running isn’t possible for you it has been proven any aerobic exercises can offer the same conclusion.

The Interesting Benefit Running Can Have On The Mind

After running for 4 weeks and being my very own test dummy. The mental benefits I gained from running were surprisingly quick. It showed how natural this is for humans. The reward I achieved was the release of endorphins, dopamine plus a whole range of other chemicals being released to aid me.

After a month of running, I became more outgoing again, confident and happy. Anxiety levels reduced dramatically and I gained a new sense of control that I hadn’t felt in a while. Crazy to think every night before bed I looked forward to getting up run the next day. The addictive high of running was real.

This just goes to show when humans go back to basics. We find out what mother nature intended our body’s to do.

We find a part of us that’s real and happy. Humans are not meant to stay indoors all day working and watching TV. Nor are we built to hooked to a phones 24/7. As much as these things are useful and entertaining we should treat these as a bonus in our life.

The main focus should be what makes our mind and body thrive. Socialising with people in human contact, spending time in nature and exercising in the form of running for sure is one of them.

For anyone suffering from anxiety or depression. Getting outside and start running can be a huge benefit. Alongside the release of chemicals in your mind to boost your mood to positive levels.

The first step is the hardest but once you get going the reward is worth it.

The Round-Up

That, for now, concludes this article – The interesting benefit running can have on the mind.

I hope it shows what you can achieve for your own health by picking up aerobic exercise, especially running.

We are built to run.

So let’s use it to help build our body’s and minds to its peak performance. By doing this we can gain the full benefits of what we can achieve as humans.

Especially within the mind and if we can lower the cases of depression and anxiety from controlling our lives. Then that’s an amazing achievement for everyone. The data proves this to be the case. Now it’s down to you to test it out.

Hi I’m Adam

I’ve spent over 10 years coaching and mentoring people within sport and business. I have many life skills that I have developed and I want to pass these skills on so people can find their best self. I believe it all starts in the mind and I write about valuable tools and strategies to help people grow in this area.

In today’s article, we discuss who wants to be negative anyway?

Negativity is all around us and within us. It can be a battle keep it away and replace it with positive surrounding and positive thoughts.

We discuss today how to overcome negativity by understanding our environment and our self more. With some self-guided tips to apply.

I hope you enjoy and let’s create positivity.

Overcoming Negativity

Negativity comes in all shapes and sizes. From id-al gossip to being constantly inundated with the problems of the world via the news. Now I don’t know about you but negativity brings my energy down.

It has contributed to some damaging effects on certain parts of my life. For instance, I had a boss where every mistake I made, I had an overblown telling off. With every success brushed under the carpet. At a low point, all I wanted was some praise. I even confronted him and told him about my perceived success. All I got in return was you have achieved nothing. (That kind of hurt at the time)

who wants to be negative anyway? — Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Shortly after I left that company and as the months of mist blown away from my clouded judgement. I realised I was in a negative environment.

Too many people are in these environments. It could be work, friends, relationships, family or even media. The problem is when you’re in a negative environment. It can be hard to notice or see that there is a problem.

What I have learned is through self-awareness, this is how you get out.

Understanding My Environments

What I have learnt to do now is in any environment I’m in. Is mentally in the moment tally up the positives and the negatives of my environments. This could be a conversation you have where you can decide between the rate of praise and criticism you receive. If it swings constantly in the later. You know this isn’t an environment you want to be in for much longer.

First and foremost you have to think about your happiness and success. Thinking of what’s stopping you from excelling in these areas. When you figure this out that’s when your life can speed in the direction you want.

As we have stated that it’s hard to notice when you’re in a negative environment. It can be even harder to notice when we have dragged ourselves into it. This can especially be the case when others lure you into gossip. Especially when you start a new job it can be even more tempting to try and fit in.

Who Wants To Be Negative Anyway Science?

A study showed how agreeable we are to others. They had 15 actors who had differentiating points of few some true some false. An astonishing 75% of the people who participated were agreeable to false statements. The ability to fit in is very much part of what makes us human.

Maybe this is a survival trait left over to keep us safe within the group. We have to learn to be self-aware of this within us because if left untrained we can be lured into negative outcomes that do us no favours.

Who Wants To Be Negative Anyway History?

History is a great teacher and we don’t have to look too far back to how the German people responded to their fears being heightened to fascist viewpoints from Hitler and his Nazi party. It resulted in millions of needless deaths from the agreeableness of others even if these values was not theirs, to begin with.

That’s why it’s important to know your values of yourself and when entering conversations with people you know who to keep and who to let go of.

Who Wants To Be Negative Anyway Gossip?

Anyone luring you into gossip about others. If you don’t want to entertain this person just act like you know nothing and change the subject to something more positive. When you’re in control of your thoughts you can fight back against negativity that brings nothing but pain to your life.

You might respond “well I love gossiping.”

The negative consequences of these actions have been proven to create a lot of negative outcomes for yourself.

For instance, mistrust in you as a person from others, you enter into more selfish tendencies and it creates more fear within yourself about others.

It can even lead to an increase in anger responses. There should be no place in your life for negative gossiping of others. For the age-old saying treat others how you would like to be treated yourself. Plus no-one would ever like to be gossiped about.

How To Gain Peace Of Mind From Negativity

What I think we all love is when our mind is at peace and this is very true when we live in line with our values. A vast majority of us want to live outlives positively and not be drawn into any negativity but we need to understand this is not life.

Unfortunately, negativity is all around us. Humans are not perfect and will make mistakes accordingly but learning self-awareness of what’s around us can go a long way to fighting back against negativity.

In some cases, we might be subjected to unsolicited advice or it’s a good deal gone wrong that has left you financially in arrears. Whatever it is we can control whether we live in it or move away from it.

First, we have to recognise it, then understand it, then stop it and finally move into a new positive direction.

Peace of mind comes from us dealing with our negativity and our problems head-on. If we don’t they will not go away they will live within us or in front of us until we can take the courage to deal with it.

Self-guided tips to try

Become self-aware of your environment you’re in and find out is it helping you succeed or making you negative.

Be self-aware of your actions and write down how you can improve and get to work on it immediately

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed today’s article – who wants to be negative anyway?

Knowing and understanding what your values are can help maintain a positive direction without getting swayed to someone else’s values you don’t agree with.

So write down what your values are as a person and what are the people around values are. And see if they match up. I will leave the final decsion with you.

Have a great day and check out another similar article below.

Hi I’m Adam