Mental health reasons to lift

[MistyTrains2]

It occurred to me that the majority of reasons why I lift are for mental health.

These are some of mine:

>It takes mental discipline to do the same exercises week in week out, I love this training, the buzz from turning up to a session that I didn't feel like then finding I really challenge myself in that session
>It is very good for mind body connection especially unilateral exercises
>It builds my resilience, if I can squat my body weight and move 150kg with my legs, I can crush other goals too
>I find it a good balance of challenging and fun, the reps and sets can be varied, there are other elements you can build alongside it like mobility work, running or whatever cardio, or specific lifting goals etc.

What are your reasons for lifting, mental health or otherwise?

Yep lifting really suits my brain. It's the one time it's really clear and focused. I love the numbers and visible progression. It makes me feel awesome and keeps anxiety away. I'm my most confident and happy self when I've been lifting. I think I'm amazing pretty much most of the time now, I didn't used to. And I take a lot less shit.

I am hugely less irritable than I was. I primarily started strength training (6 months ago) to try and sort out my hormonal imbalance. I have PCOS and wanted to improve my insulin resistance. Used to have horrendous PMT symptoms and this month I had a period almost by surprise. I feel like a much calmer person. Feel way more confident. I've lost quite a significant amount of weight and I don't have any sugar cravings at all any more. I feel like I don't have that pent-up-energy-stress feeling anymore because I get it all out at the gym.

@Snowpaw I forgot about PMT! So much better! I also find I can regain equilibrium much better if I get derailed (adhd). Also it motivates me to eat well and sleep more as those are the pillars of better lifting! That's awesome @RayKray.

There is a hugely interesting video on the Zoe YouTube channel with a scientist who says lifting weights increases the size of your hippocampus and directly improves your mental health x

I listened to that podcast yesterday. The hippocampus is the area of the brain responsible for memory and learning. I can vouch that my adhd is way better since lifting, I've been able to habit stack routines and generally feel less burned out.

I think weight lifting is going to be massively important in the context of an ageing population and pressure on a health care system and we will see a lot more encouragement for it.