Along with increasing muscle strength and endurance and keeping your muscles and joints active and healthy, exercise helps women with chronic pain to de-stress, which may ease your pain and help you sleep more soundly. Research has shown that regular participation in aerobic training has been reported to reduce symptoms of moderate depression and enhance psychological fitness. Exercise can even produce changes in certain chemical levels in the body, which can have an effect on the psychological state. Studies that have focused on “depressed mood,” as opposed to the more serious clinical depression, have found that just one hour of aerobic exercise helps to boost mood and give exercisers a sense of achievement. In one study reported in the January 2001 issue of the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, the “depressed-mood” group noticed a significant reduction in anger, fatigue, and tension, along with a boost in vitality and vigor. This study confirms what many women with chronic pain have experienced --that exercise is necessary to help them cope with the emotions of pain, as well as to reduce fatigue that may accompany their pain-related ailment.
Along with increasing muscle strength and endurance and keeping
your muscles and joints active and healthy, exercise helps women
with chronic pain to de-stress, which may ease your pain and help
you sleep more soundly. Research has shown...
More
Dr. Howard S. Smith answered:Along with increasing muscle strength and endurance and keeping your muscles and joints active and healthy, exercise helps women with chronic pain to de-stress, which may ease your pain and help you sleep more soundly. Research has shown that regular participation in aerobic training has been reported to reduce symptoms of moderate depression and enhance psychological fitness. Exercise can even produce changes in certain chemical levels in the body, which can have an effect on the psychological state. Studies that have focused on “depressed mood,” as opposed to the more serious clinical depression, have found that just one hour of aerobic exercise helps to boost mood and give exercisers a sense of achievement. In one study reported in the January 2001 issue of the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, the “depressed-mood” group noticed a significant reduction in anger, fatigue, and tension, along with a boost in vitality and vigor. This study confirms what many women with chronic pain have experienced --that exercise is necessary to help them cope with the emotions of pain, as well as to reduce fatigue that may accompany their pain-related ailment.Along with increasing muscle strength and endurance and keeping your muscles and joints active and healthy, exercise helps women with chronic pain to de-stress, which may ease your pain and help you sleep more soundly. Research has shown... More
National Academy of Sports Medicine answered:Exercise provides many benefits to help improve mood and chronic pain issues. Regular exercise helps improve range of motion and limberness of muscles, and joints. Exercise performed regularly will cause the body to release of a variety of chemicals that help improve mood, and decrease pain, including growth hormone, testosterone, catecholamines, endorphins, and serotonin. This one –two punch of feel good chemicals, plus pain reducing chemicals will help improve a person with chronic pain issued mood.
