Boost Joy: 5 Effective Exercise Techniques for Happiness

Introduction

Editor’s note: The tenth season of Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s podcast, Chasing Life, delves into the science of happiness. Listen to the episodes here.

The Lost Joy of Movement

Imagine the days of your childhood when movement was instinctive and often filled with pure joy.

Perhaps it was racing your siblings to the front door, jumping on the bed at sleepovers, participating in a team sport, or cycling around the park.

Unfortunately, for many, the connection between movement and happiness was lost and forgotten on the journey to adulthood, replaced by the realities and obligations of daily life. Movement may have become a necessity for health or fitness, time-consuming, or even painful due to injury, disease, or the passing of time.

The Essential Role of Movement

Neglecting movement can put our well-being at risk. Research has shown that movement, and its more deliberate counterpart, exercise, is not only beneficial for physical health but also strongly associated with mental status and mood.

As psychologist Kelly McGonigal told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his podcast Chasing Life, “I always say that exercise is like an intravenous dose of hope. And it’s any form of movement that you’re willing to do with any part of your body that you can still move.”

The Joy of Movement

McGonigal is the author of “The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage. As a group fitness instructor and a lecturer at Stanford University, she has leveraged movement and exercise throughout her life to manage her anxiety and depression.

According to McGonigal, exercise facilitates the creation and release of “hope” molecules, officially known as myokines, during muscle contractions — for instance, during workouts or even just movement. Some of these myokines can have antidepressant effects.

The Power of Exercise

“Our muscles do more than just move our bones around or stabilize our skeleton,” she explained. “Our muscles are almost like endocrine organs. They manufacture these molecules that they can release into the bloodstream that then travel around and affect all of our organs. And some of them can cross the blood-brain barrier and affect your brain, including your mood and your mental health and your brain health.”

According to McGonigal, exercise allows you to perceive your body as an ally. “This is one of the coolest parts of the science of movement and exercise, particularly because of how it allows us to feel like our body is our friend. It’s our partner, not something we’re trying to fix or control through movement.”

She mentioned that several other brain chemicals get released during exercise that can impact someone’s mental state, leading to a runner’s high, a flow state, and even euphoria.

“There’s actually a lot of different kinds of brain states you could experience in movement; it’s not one ‘thing’,” she stated. Listen to the full discussion here.

Tips for Joyful Movement

What can you do to tap into joy during exercise and movement? McGonigal provides these five tips.

Engage with Nature

Start by heading out into nature. “Mindful forms of movement, as well as moving outdoors in nature, tends to put the brain in a state of heightened awareness to the present moment that feels like vitality and connection to life,” McGonigal suggested. “People often feel a relief from inner chatter and stress and worrying. … It’s changing which systems of the brain are most active and putting you in a state that’s like meditation.”

Create a Playlist

Queue up your favorite playlist and get moving. “If you’re doing a workout where you’re listening to music you love that’s high energy, you’re moving to the beat, and you’re doing things that really get your heart rate up … it often is more like euphoria,” she said. “You feel incredible, and you’ve got those endorphins, and that brain chemistry also really helps you feel connected to other people.”

Be Social

Being social can aid in exercise. “Make movement social. We know that people form friendships and communities of support through movement, whether it’s strength training or running,” McGonigal mentioned. Who couldn’t use another friend or source of support these days?

Furthermore, exercise can also help you be more social. “People who exercise, they report being less lonely, they report having better relationships with others and — for reasons that range from the biochemical and how the brain chemistry of exercise primes you to be more social — to be able to connect with others better,” McGonigal elaborated. “If you are socially anxious and you exercise, by the end of that workout, you’re going to be almost like a more extroverted version of yourself.”

Enjoyable Activities

Find something you really enjoy doing. “Think about positive experiences you’ve had with movement in your life,” McGonigal advised. “Maybe go back to something that you miss or find a new way to do it.”

Appreciate Your Body

While you are moving, find ways to appreciate your body for its ability to move, rather than monitoring it. Adopt a “mindset switch of, ‘Wow, body — that was incredible!’ Or ‘Thank you, body, for having the energy to let me do this,’” McGonigal suggested.

We hope these five tips help you discover joy through movement. Listen to the full episode here. And join us next week on the Chasing Life podcast when Dr. Gabor Maté speaks about how past trauma affects present-day health.