If you are one of the many people who suffer from anxiety or depression you most likely have tried many different tools to help relieve the symptoms. For many anxiety and depression can cause one to feel trapped in the disease with no relief. A new recent study has shown that when one hits the weights, it can help relieve some of the symptoms. The positive effect on one’s brain when they weight lift causes a reduction in anxiety and depression.

You don’t have to worry that this means that you will have to be bench pressing 100 pounds to feel some sort of relief from anxiety either. It was found by researchers that it was the low, moderate weights that had the best effect. Choosing weights that are around 70 percent of what you can lift should be your max. The goal is to reduce tension not add tension, which if you lift too much would not actually reduce the anxiety tension you are hoping to relieve.

If you suffer from depression, any type of weight training is beneficial according to the studies done by researchers. It was discovered that around 1-2 hours was enough for most to help relieve and even prevent depression symptoms.

Overall, the best workouts are less than 45 minutes. Any more and people begin to feel that they don’t have enough time and then may end up spiraling that they have failed. So, be sure to keep your time realistic, you don’t have to be a powerhouse weight lifter to gain the benefits of lifting weights. The other thing is to be sure you are doing something you enjoy. If you are doing exercises that you hate, then it isn’t going to relieve any sorts of feelings of anxiety or depression. One has to think about it as something that they enjoy, not a “have to.”

The other thing to consider is that any movement, any exercise does help our mental health. It doesn’t matter our age, the benefits of strength training of any sort triggers endorphins which is what gives us the mental boost we are seeking. Even just the feeling of accomplishment of exercising and sticking with it helps give people with anxiety or depression a boost through the perseverance.

If you are unable to go to the gym to workout or if you don’t have any equipment at home, it is still possible to do weight training by using what you have in your home. Canned goods, milk jugs, bags of rice or fruit all can be used in weight lifting exercises. The other thing that you can do is using your own weight. Examples of the these are: pushups, chin-ups, squats, and lunges. All of these use your own weight as the resistance vs weights themselves.

Overall, the research done does show that if you have any anxiety or depression exercise does help one’s mental health, and if you add weight training to your day, even for a few minutes, it can help relieve the symptoms you are experiencing.