ECU PSY1101D: Argumentative Essay on Exercise & Mental Health

This essay investigates the relationship between exercise and mental health, arguing that engaging in physical activity significantly improves psychological well-being. The essay draws upon multiple sources, including studies that analyze the impact of exercise on reducing mental illness and stress, increasing self-esteem, and enhancing cognitive functions. It highlights the positive correlation between exercise and physical health, emphasizing that regular physical activity can lead to improved mood, concentration, and overall quality of life. The author also discusses the need for universities to create environments that promote social connection and physical activity to support student mental health. The essay concludes by reinforcing the idea that exercise is a powerful tool for combating anxiety and depression, thereby improving the mental health of individuals across different demographics and professions. Key studies, such as the one by Skead & Rogers, are referenced to support the arguments made throughout the essay, illustrating the benefits of exercise in enhancing mental well-being and promoting a positive outlook on life. The essay also touches upon the benefits of exercise in creating new hippocampal neurons that help in sharping the memory of human, enhances the learning power of the brain and regulates emotion. Mental stress leads to a decrease in hippocampus neurons and hampers the mental health of humans.

Exercise improves
mental health
2019
Student’s Name
5/7/2019

Exercise and mental health 1
Exercise is considered as a key to reduce mental illness and motivate humans to
achieve the goals of life. It helps in distracting the negative thoughts and provides the
opportunity to undertake new experiences in life. It increases the energy levels and outlets the
frustrations. It is analyzed that when the human body is mentally fit and relaxed it is able to
generate new solutions and achieve higher goals in life. It develops the ability of the
individuals to be self-regulatory and control the actions of life. Through the engagement of
regular exercise, humans can reduce mental stress and can increase self-esteem and self-
worth (Knapen et al, 2015).
There is a positive relationship between exercise and the physical health of the
human. It is analyzed that a greater occurrence of exercise felt better physically. This positive
relationship gets strengthened as the occurrence of exercise increases. The humans who are
involved in physical activity are 3 times less likely to feel pain from depression and other
depressive symptoms. The level of depression decreases as the intensity of involvement in
physical activity increases. It is observed that the people who are more informally connected
experience a reduced amount of mental distress and high self-esteem than the one who is less
associated (Lubans et al, 2016).
It is analyzed from the article that the law students become more stressful and suffers
more mental distress in contrast to the psychology students. It is due to the competitive
environment under which the students learn and the less social connection. The law students
suffer from high work pressures and competition among the students. The universities have
designed the opportunity to conduct bootcamps under which the students and the staff will
interact and will help the students to be socially connected and will ensure the psychological
well-being of the students by providing free and engaging the students in the physical
exercise. There is a optimistic correlation between physical activity and the well-being of the
students (Skead & Rogers, 2016).

Exercise and mental health 2
Regular exercise leaves a positive impact on depression and anxiety. It reduces the
mental stress and boosts the overall mood of the individuals. It is not concerned with the age
of the person and is used as a powerful tool to live a relaxed life. Doing regular exercise helps
the human to overcome the stress, trauma and leads to an increase in the self-esteem of
humans. It helps people to concentrate more and face the challenges of life in a more
resilience manner. It motivates the human to fight to depression and anxiety (Das et al, 2016).
Exercise is well recognized in stimulating the body to produce endorphins and
enkephalins which lead to the development of good hormones and the humans are able to
manage the problems in an easy manner. It helps in breaking the current concerns and
damaging of the self-talk. It helps in reducing the mental illness and serious chronic diseases
suffered by humans. It is also analyzed that exercises help in the creation of new hippocampal
neurons that help in sharping the memory of human, enhances the learning power of the brain
and regulates emotion. Mental stress leads to a decrease in hippocampus neurons and
hampers the mental health of humans (Firth et al, 2016).
Mental ill health is represented by cognitive inflexibility which in turn restricts the
mind to acknowledge new information, reduces the ability to find new solutions to a problem
and leads to repeating of the unhelpful behaviors. Cognitive inflexibility can be reduced by
engaging exercise in daily practice (Firth et al, 2016).
Exercise increases the serotonin level and improves the sleep of humans. It breaks
down the muscle tension and decreases the physical pain and discomfort associated with
depression. It helps in realizing the self-worth and increases the self-esteem which in turn
advances the mental health and well-being of individuals (Jeste et al, 2015).
Exercise boosts the mood, concentration and the alertness of the humans and directs
towards the positive outlook of life. It boosts the brain by developing new brain cells that

Exercise and mental health 3
improve the memory and the performance of the brain. By boosting the brain the humans are
able to generate creative ideas and give a new direction to the lives of human. It regulates the
circadian rhythm and increases the body temperature which in turn leads to calming of the
mind and provide better sleep to humans (McConville, McAleer & Hahne, 2017).
The decrease in stress makes people happier and has a positive outlook on life. It
improves the nervous system and forces the body to communicate with each other. It is
analyzed the increase in social interactions reduces the stress levels and make humans more
motivated and happier. It allows the mind to respond well to challenging situations and
develop new solutions to face complex situations. Engagement of regular exercise develops
the feeling of euphoria and happiness and leads to eliminate the symptoms of depression and
nervousness (Mikkelsen et al, 2017).
The involvement of the physical activity in the daily life’s increases the energy levels
and enhances the productivity of the individuals as they are able to concentrate more on the
activities and develops creative solutions to the problems. It inspires people to control their
actions and guide their directions in a positive manner. The development of new brain cells
improves the performance of the brain and makes the person both physically and mentally fit.
It also helps in inspiring other people by developing a positive environment and boosting
them to enhance their self-confidence and live a better life (Schuch et al, 2016).
The strong association among exercise and mental health creates the emerging needs
for the universities to create the learning environment where the students get the opportunity
to be socially connected and involvement of more physical activity. It will allow the students
to enhance their performance by reducing the stress levels and grabbing opportunities to
interact with the people. The positive association between exercise and mental health
develops the need to promote exercise especially among the law students and create a

Exercise and mental health 4
positive workplace for the professionals. To develop strong leaders for the future
involvement of physical activity is must at the universities. It will reduce the pressure and the
stress levels on the students and will motivate them to have better learning. It will enhance
the skills and will develop creativity among the students (Vancampfort et al, 2017).
From the above discussion, it is critical to note that exercise is considered as a
powerful tool to eliminate anxiety and depression and improves the mental health of the
individuals. The engagement of exercise boosts self-esteem and helps the individuals to
realize their self-worth. It is analyzed from the above discussions that the people who are
engaged in physical activity are able to perform better and create a positive working
environment.
The positive association between exercise and mental health has developed the
emerging needs for the universities to undertake the activities that allow them to be more
socially connected and provides the opportunity to interact at large. Such physical activities
help in developing new brain cells and lead to the development of the creative solutions. The
involvement in the physical activity reduces the stress and develops positive working
professionals. It develops the ability to control the actions and direct the actions towards a
productive manner.

Exercise and mental health 5
References
Das, J. K., Salam, R. A., Lassi, Z. S., Khan, M. N., Mahmood, W., Patel, V., & Bhutta, Z. A.
(2016). Interventions for adolescent mental health: an overview of systematic
reviews. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(4), S49-S60
Firth, J., Rosenbaum, S., Stubbs, B., Gorczynski, P., Yung, A. R., & Vancampfort, D. (2016).
Motivating factors and barriers towards exercise in severe mental illness: a systematic
review and meta-analysis. Psychological medicine, 46(14), 2869-2881
Jeste, D. V., Palmer, B. W., Rettew, D. C., & Boardman, S. (2015). Positive psychiatry: its
time has come. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 76(6), 675.
Knapen, J., Vancampfort, D., Morien, Y., & Marchal, Y. (2015). Exercise therapy improves
both mental and physical health in patients with major depression. Disability and
rehabilitation, 37(16), 1490-1495
Lubans, D., Richards, J., Hillman, C., Faulkner, G., Beauchamp, M., Nilsson, M. & Biddle,
S. (2016). Physical activity for cognitive and mental health in youth: a systematic
review of mechanisms. Pediatrics, 138(3), e20161642.
McConville, J., McAleer, R., & Hahne, A. (2017). Mindfulness training for health profession
students—the effect of mindfulness training on psychological well-being, learning
and clinical performance of health professional students: a systematic review of
randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Explore, 13(1), 26-45.
Mikkelsen, K., Stojanovska, L., Polenakovic, M., Bosevski, M., & Apostolopoulos, V.
(2017). Exercise and mental health. Maturitas, 106, 48-56.
Schuch, F. B., Vancampfort, D., Rosenbaum, S., Richards, J., Ward, P. B., & Stubbs, B.
(2016). Exercise improves physical and psychological quality of life in people with

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depression: a meta-analysis including the evaluation of control group
response. Psychiatry research, 241, 47-54.
Skead, N. K., & Rogers, S. L. (2016). Running to well-being: A comparative study on the
impact of exercise on the physical and mental health of law and psychology students.
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 49, 66-74.
doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.05.012
Vancampfort, D., Rosenbaum, S., Schuch, F., Ward, P. B., Richards, J., Mugisha, J., &
Stubbs, B. (2017). Cardiorespiratory fitness in severe mental illness: a systematic
review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 47(2), 343-352.