(and the rest will follow)…now stop singing 🙂

I always ask potential clients why they want to join a gym or exercise, and more often than not the answer is always “to lose weight” or “to get fit.” This makes sense right? You come to the gym to exercise, sweat, and hopefully shed off the couple inches you gained over whatever holiday just passed.

Very rarely do I hear “to feel happy” or “to stimulate my brain chemistry” as an answer to exercise (not like anyone would say that, but anyway). Nevertheless, it seemed to me that most people associate working out solely with the improving of our physical bodies, and tended to ignore the impact that exercise has on our brains.

Let’s be honest, what good is a body without a healthy mind?

Living in a society driven by unrealistic body ideals (thanks to the truthful and accurately informative world of the media, ahem*), we are all driving ourselves crazy, whereby people resort themselves to dangerous practices in order to achieve this unrealistic, unachievable standard if you weren’t lucky enough to be born with Victoria Secrets model genetics. Photoshop, airbrushing, plastic surgery, anorexia, bulimia… these phenomena aren’t fresh news to anyone these days, yet so many people feel it’s worth sacrificing their health in order to achieve this “ideal” physical body.

Sigh.

Forfeiting health may look good on the outside, but as a result, what toss and turmoil persists internally? If there were one reason why I would recommend exercise, it would be to improve overall wellbeing and health (both internally and externally). As a result of exercise, metabolism spikes with muscle development, increased blood flow bathes the muscles and the brain in ways you can’t imagine, and best yet, endorphins are released giving you a lovely natural high. You become happier! Screw the meds given to you by your doctor, go for a 20-minute run! Exercise can thus become a healthier, more affordable alternative to medicine, and should be, in my opinion, a prescription to battle any form of depression.

Feel the part, don’t just look it.

For a better tomorrow!

Stephanie