Can Lifting Weights Help with Anxiety and Depression?

Training Your Body to Retrain Your Mind

The amazing symbiotic connection between our minds and our bodies is something that has been accepted for millennia. Since at least the Victorian Era, based on anecdotal evidence doctors have  advocated exercises of various sorts to help with mental issues like memory loss, mood disorders, and anxiety. However, until recently actual scientific evidence supporting the theory of this interconnectivity has been fairly hard to come by. The studies that have been conducted focused almost exclusively on aerobic exercises like jogging.

Now, a handful of scientific surveys have found surprising and direct connections between resistance training (a.k.a. weightlifting) and reduced levels of anxiety and depression. While it’s too early to suggest that resistance training is a cure, we can say with certainty that lifting weights can at least help with anxiety and depression.

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