Reduce Your Stress with Exercise

2020 has been a stressful year. If you aren’t worried about COVID-19, maybe it’s job security, paying your bills, or even politics that has filled your life with anxiety.

The easy answer is exercise, and it’s especially easy if you have a Sport Court in your backyard or neighborhood recreation area.

Exercise is a great stress reducer. It gives you a sense of overall health and well-being and just makes you feel better about yourself. Here’s how:

• Exercise increases the level of endorphins in your body. Endorphins are the feel-good neurotransmitters produced by the brain when you engage in aerobic activity.
• Exercise not only reduces stress in your body, it protects your body from the effects of stress on the cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems.
• A fast-paced game of tennis or pickleball takes your mind off the problems of the day. The effect is almost like meditation or mindfulness techniques that force a person to focus on the response of their body instead of their worries.
• Exercise can improve your sleep, which in turn improves your mood, your energy levels, and your productivity.

The best thing about exercise as a stress-relief technique is that it can be fun! Do what you enjoy—basketball, volleyball, swimming, tennis, running, bicycling, or whatever. Here are some suggestions for making your exercise routine more enjoyable:

• Invite a friend or family member to join you. Exercise does not need to be a solitary activity.
• Set goals for yourself. You will find that your sense of well-being is enhanced when you meet your goals. Goals can be as simple as a set number of days a week of activity. Or your goal might be to lower your pulse rate or meet a weight target.
• If you find yourself getting bored with your exercise routine, it is easy to make changes. Try a new sport. Buy or borrow some new equipment. Try changing your schedule to do more different activities for shorter periods of time.

If you don’t have a Sport Court available for your use, give Grand Slam Courts a call for a quote on adding one to your backyard.