The Best Form of Exercise To Reduce Anxiety

In just five minutes, you’ll start feeling less anxious, researchers say.

by Rachel Linder

This probably isn’t the first time you’re hearing that exercise can help lessen your symptoms of anxiety. In fact, it often comes up when speaking with a therapist, maybe even in a first session, about your daily routine. According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, the production of endorphins, which comes as a result of exercise and moving your body, acts as a “natural painkiller”, reducing your overall symptoms—both physical and mental—of anxiety. Not to mention, these endorphins also have a direct impact on your ability to improve sleep, which is known to have a direct correlation to lowering anxiety. Long story short, if you’re not routinely exercising, getting into that habit could be the key to better managing your anxiety.

It’s possible, though, that you already knew that. So, we wanted to take this one step further. There has to be a particular type of exercise that is best when it comes to the benefits for our mental health. Don’t get us wrong, all exercise is great—and any form of it you enjoy will play a role in lowering your anxiety. But, according to the U.S. News and World Report, aerobic exercise is the best form of exercise when it comes to reducing anxiety.

That means there’s not one particular activity to do to lessen your anxiety—you have options. Anything from a brisk walk to swimming or cycling or even just dancing around your house. Of course if you have more time and you’re looking to burn some serious calories as well, you could do a HIIT workout or another form of high intensity training, but research has shown that it’s really not necessary to have an impact on your mental health.

In fact, according to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, all you need to do is some sort of aerobic exercise for just five minutes to begin to feel the anti-anxiety effects. That’s a five minute commitment to yourself and your wellbeing to start seeing results—if that isn’t doable, we don’t know what is. It could be the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning, the last thing you do before you go to sleep or something in the middle of the day to give yourself a little break. No matter when you do it, the impact of incorporating an aerobic workout into your lifestyle will be a big deal for your anxiety. The most important thing to remember is to find something that you enjoy—that’s the key to helping it become a routine. And likely, once you get going, you’ll be wanting to do it for much longer than five minutes. With any good habit forming, the most crucial thing is just getting started.