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Remember the last time you had a really good workout? Afterwards, you felt fantastic - calm, relaxed and 'de-tangled'.

We need to stay active to manage stress. It's all down to that basic stress response again - the 'light or (light' mechanism. Designed to give us a sudden burst of energy, it evolved to save us from ravening lions and other sources of danger. But while most of us are now safe from lions, we have other stresses -work, money, relationships, world news, city living - all day, every day, and our bodies still react in the same way, preparing us for intense physical activity. If you don't use that energy, it can build up as tension in your mind and body, making you anxious and damaging your health.

Releases stress

It's no surprise, then, that when you're stressed, exercise is a proven way to unwind. Australian researchers put 98 people under stress, by giving them difficult tests or having them watch violent films, and then observed the effects that T’ai chi or brisk walking had on their stress levels. After either activity, levels of Cortisol (a stress hormone) had fallen significantly, as had their heart rales and blood pressure, while their mood had improved.1 The message is clear: exercise is an effective way of managing stress and reducing its negative effects on your body.

Why It's Good

More stable energy

Too many of us are sugar and stimulant junkies, and find ourselves on a roller-coaster ride of high energy/low energy, good mood/bad mood, good concentration/poor concentration, which leaves us stressed in mind and body. A fluctuating blood sugar level makes you even more dependent on stimulants like cigarettes, tea, coffee or more stress just to keep going, and less able to relax and unwind. Exercise can even out this imbalance and leave you thoroughly relaxed, in a way that simply collapsing in front of the television never can.

Less anxiety, better mood

We also know that people who exercise regularly are much less likely to be depressed or anxious than those who don't. Dr Dennis Lobstein from the University of New Mexico compared joggers to more sedentary folk and found that, quite apart from the high experienced during exercise, the joggers were consistently more emotionally stable and less depressed.4

Post-exercise chill-out

The net effect of exercising and burning off all that excess adrenalin is to leave both your body and mind chilled out and able to relax. It's great to do after work so you can let go of the day, relax in the evening and sleep well.

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