5 Mental Benefits Of Exercising Regularly

In the last two years, our lives have become more sedentary than we would like. Dealing with the stress of school life and home in one environment with little change can get too morbid, especially for kids who are going through key developmental changes both emotionally and mentally. More often than not, we discount the importance of physical fitness and would rather have your kids buried their heads in their homework. When we don’t encourage our kids to be active, we are denying them some of the most important benefits of physical activity that aids their overall development. Here is why you should have a conversation about the importance of physical fitness with your kids -

1. Gives A Much Needed Boost - The most important benefit of physical activity is that it gives your child the brain boost they need for optimum developmental changes to happen. Exercise can help in the generation of new brain cells through a process called neurogenesis which improves overall brain performance. It also helps strengthen memory and learning by strengthening the hippocampus, which is the area in the brain concerned with learning and memory. Just an hour of cardiovascular exercise or any form of exercise can help aid these processes.


2. Helps Control Depression and Anxiety - Your child’s mental health is positively impacted by physical exercise. It is time we attach the importance of physical activity to better mental health outcomes as studies show that physical activity kicks up the production of endorphins in our body that promotes happiness and euphoria in the system. It is truly a much healthier alternative before considering medication if your child is showing signs of mental health struggles.


3. Improved Sleep - We cannot stress this enough- Sleep is IMPORTANT. A growing child needs 8-9 hours of undisturbed sleep for optimum functioning of their physical and mental systems. When your child sleeps, the body performs important repairs and creates and strengthens many neural networks that aid in learning and memory. Your child’s physical growth in terms of their height, weight, mobility are all aided by a good quality sleep. This is where the importance of physical activity should be amplified as a good session of physical activity promotes good quality of sleep in children.


4. Increased Self-Esteem - The benefits of physical activity have a direct impact on our self-view as it improves our self-esteem and self-confidence. When children start playing a sport or start learning a new physical activity they are upskilling themselves, making them more adept and skillful at establishing a higher and more positive outlook about themselves. When they get a ball through the net or make that neat goal, they are proud of themselves, which leads to high self-confidence.


5. Lesser Stress - The more time children spend on social media and on the net, the more they are prone to information overload which can misconstrue them and disorient them which leads to body-image issues and depression. Instead, encourage your children to engage in more off-screen activities like physical activities and sports which takes their minds off the online world. Secondly, increasing your heart rate can definitely help to reduce stress by releasing the hormone norepinephrine which helps improve cognition and brain health, and helps reduce clouded thinking.

Rest assured the environment at Podar International School is warm and friendly, where we encourage our students to give equal importance to mental and physical wellness. While we want them to exceed in what they do, we also don’t want them to neglect their wellbeing. Hence, our teachers make it especially necessary for students to focus on their holistic wellness. To know more about us, read here.