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View Full Version : Exercise as a cure for anxiety



ChristyV6
12-02-2011, 10:18 PM
Hi, I'm Christy and I have suffered from anxiety/panic attack disorder for the past 7 years. My first panic attack came out of nowhere...racing heart, numbness in my arm, lightheadedness. I drove myself to the emergency room that day and was never the same person. Over the next year, I went to the emergency room about once a week. They never found anything physically wrong with me, which was when I began to realize that I had a mental disorder.

A doctor told me that anxiety is just excess energy built up in the body that effects the mind. So I started working out every day, 7 days a week for about an hour and low and behold, all of my symptoms went away. I did a 90 day workout program and never felt better during it, no feelings of dread, no inexplicable deathly symptoms. It was great!

Then I started to slack off in the amount of time and intensity I was putting into the workouts. The dread started to creep back in. But this time I could push it back a little because I had changed my behaviors. I could tell myself that there was no way I was dying today because I had worked out so hard and therefore was in perfect health. So, not only did the exercise get rid of the excess energy, it also gave me a mental tool in the fight against anxiety!

alankay
12-03-2011, 07:42 PM
I'm a lifelong runner and it helps lower my anxiety but I wish it helps as profoundly as it does for you. But anxiety is not an "excess energy". It's much more complex that and varies by person. Use that tool(exercise) and you'll be all the healthier and I hope you stay well.