How can exercise help reduce chronic pain?

When you engage in a comprehensive fitness program, consisting of cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise, stretching (flexibility), and resistance (strengthening) exercise, you will improve your fitness and most likely reduce your pain. Aside from the proven cardiovascular benefits of exercise, check out the following ways exercise may benefit women with chronic pain: improved sleep quality, weight control, prevention of bone loss, increased energy level, countered anxiety and depression, increased muscle strength, relief for stress and tension, improved body posture, maintenance of range-of-motion in your joints, and decrease tension. Exercising regularly can help women with chronic pain actually decrease pain as they unwind, de-stress, lose weight, increase range of motion or the normal amount your joints can be moved in certain directions, and build muscle and bone strength. For women who suffer with tension headaches, exercise can help to reduce muscle tension and boost endorphins, the body’s natural pain relievers. Perhaps one of the immediate benefits of exercise is the psychological boost you get with a decrease in anxiety and tension, an improvement of mood and well-being, and a general state of relaxation.