Mental Health Workout Log FLVS Essay

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Mental Health Workout Log FLVS Essay

Reflections: (worth 20 points)

1. Did your workouts impact your stress level? Why or why not? Yes because if I have any pent up anger or stress, I just take it out while I’m exercising. It helps get my mind off things and focus on a single task or activity; therefore I don’t worry about whatever I’m stressed out about. It definitely helps me breathe so to speak and take a step back from the situation. Not only that, but participating with friends makes me laugh and smile more, and laughter is always the best medicine. Mental Health Workout Log FLVS Essay.

2. What additional activities could you include in your workout routine to improve your stress level? Listening to music that is upbeat and happy, or relaxing. My sister also likes to read when she runs on the treadmill, and I’d like to try that sometimes.

3. Do you believe your workouts impact your self-image? Why or why not? Yes because it makes you believe you are making a difference, and that your hard work is paying off. It makes you feel better about yourself because you know that you are responsible for looking as good as you do.

4. Does meeting or exceeding your goals impact your self-image? Why or why not? Yes, it is like I just said above. You know that you are responsible for getting the results. You feel a sense of satisfaction and success when you achieve your goal because all of your sweat and exercise paid off in the end.

5. Search the web to identify a motivational quote that inspires you to maintain or strengthen your self-image. Include the quote and the source of your quote. Why will this quote help you with your self-image? “It hurts now, but one day it’ll be your warm up.”-Anonymous (I found it on Google Images) I like this quote because it’s totally true. Mental Health Workout Log FLVS Essay. Even if something is ridiculously hard or challenging, I give my best because I know that it’ll help me improve my image and health. It reminds me that nothing is impossible, and as long as I’m dedicated I can overcome the obstacle. Fitness Test Comparison: (worth 20 points)

1. Repeat the body composition fitness test from the Getting Started lesson.

2. Compare your original body composition result (body mass index or BMI) with your current body composition result (body mass index or BMI). Write out your original score and status, along with your current score and status. Original score 22.37 Current score 22.29

3. Did your results improve? Why or why not?
Yes, but only slightly so. I didn’t lose a lot of weight, and I didn’t grow that much either. I’ve more or less been consistent with my fitness levels.

Sir: In this era of exponential growth of the “metabolic syndrome” and obesity, lifestyle modifications could be a cost-effective way to improve health and quality of life. Lifestyle modifications can assume especially great importance in individuals with serious mental illness. Many of these individuals are at a high risk of chronic diseases associated with sedentary behavior and medication side effects, including diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease.1 An essential component of lifestyle modification is exercise. The importance of exercise is not adequately understood or appreciated by patients and mental health professionals alike. Evidence has suggested that exercise may be an often-neglected intervention in mental health care.2

Aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression.3 These improvements in mood are proposed to be caused by exercise-induced increase in blood circulation to the brain and by an influence on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and, thus, on the physiologic reactivity to stress.3 This physiologic influence is probably mediated by the communication of the HPA axis with several regions of the brain, including the limbic system, which controls motivation and mood; the amygdala, which generates fear in response to stress; and the hippocampus, which plays an important part in memory formation as well as in mood and motivation. Mental Health Workout Log FLVS Essay.

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Other hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the beneficial effects of physical activity on mental health include distraction, self-efficacy, and social interaction.4 While structured group programs can be effective for individuals with serious mental illness, lifestyle changes that focus on the accumulation and increase of moderate-intensity activity throughout the day may be the most appropriate for most patients.1 Interestingly, adherence to physical activity interventions in psychiatric patients appears to be comparable to that in the general population.

Exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function.2 Exercise has also been found to alleviate symptoms such as low self-esteem and social withdrawal.3 Exercise is especially important in patients with schizophrenia since these patients are already vulnerable to obesity and also because of the additional risk of weight gain associated with antipsychotic treatment, especially with the atypical antipsychotics. Patients suffering from schizophrenia who participated in a 3-month physical conditioning program showed improvements in weight control and reported increased fitness levels, exercise tolerance, reduced blood pressure levels, increased perceived energy levels, and increased upper body and hand grip strength levels.5 Thirty minutes of exercise of moderate intensity, such as brisk walking for 3 days a week, is sufficient for these health benefits. Moreover, these 30 minutes need not to be continuous; three 10-minute walks are believed to be as equally useful as one 30-minute walk.

Health benefits from regular exercise that should be emphasized and reinforced by every mental health professional to their patients include the following:

  1. Improved sleep

  2. Increased interest in sex

  3. Better endurance

  4. Stress relief

  5. Improvement in mood

  6. Increased energy and stamina

  7. Reduced tiredness that can increase mental alertness

  8. Weight reduction

  9. Reduced cholesterol and improved cardiovascular fitness

Mental health service providers can thus provide effective, evidence-based physical activity interventions for individuals suffering from serious mental illness. Further studies should be done to understand the impact of combining such interventions with traditional mental health treatment including psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. Mental Health Workout Log FLVS Essay.