Exercise worsens anxiety in anxious people?

Sacrament

Well-known member
Maybe because you obsess about thinking it will help and then it just worsens your anxiety (not the exercise itself, but the obsession). Exercise releases a lot of goodies along your bloodstream.
 

mndigi

Well-known member
I don't exercise in gyms because of my social anxiety. But when I exercise alone since there's no one around I am not anxious. Maybe your anxiety is from other causes too and heavy exercises contribute to your already high blood pressure and heart rate from anxiety. So maybe you can combine lighter exercises with controlling what you eat in place of intense exercises.
 

Reiji Moritsugu

Well-known member
Now that´s something weird...personally, regular exercise everyday is what keeps anxiety from completely taking over and sending my life to an even deeper level of hell. Don´t exercise in gyms either, but that´s mostly because I don´t have the money to pay for it yet...as far as I have been able to see everybody is so busy with their own training that they hardly pay any attention to you, so it should be doable. We´ll see.

See you around :)
 
I've noticed that after doing mild excercise, like running up a massive flight of stairs, I feel really panicky and anxious straight afterwards. But if I've done lots of thorough excercise throughout the day (very rarely) that after a few hours, when my pulse has calmed down, I feel tons less anxious and better- this seems to carry on until the next day too. It's just burning off anxious energy. So it'd be wise to excercise not right before socialising; give your body time to calm down first.

Yeah, if you don't do enough aerobic exercise, it can actually make you feel more anxious. But I usually feel a lot better and calmer after a good 20 minute walk outside (I walk kind of fast).
 
You probably haven't found the right exercise. It needs to be something you love to do. For me that's cycling but if I overdo it I'll become somewhat mentally fatigued.
 

whos_that_girl

Active member
The only time that exercise can actually cause MORE anxiety is when you overdo it. This happens to me too if I get crazy with too much strength training and cardio in the same day. Or just too much cardio will burn you out and throw your body off balance. Eat right, drink plenty of fluids and take it easier when you exercise. If this does not help your anxiety, see a doc. Good luck.
 

Lea

Banned
That´s a nonsense, if anything it would help but in my experience it has 0 influence! I personaly couldn´t live without excercise. If I can´t move longer time, I feel so stressed that I would jump out of my skin. I have never seen anybody who would have the same problem so I wonder if I have some strange disease :confused:.
 
I haven't exercised in a while because it's so warm out, I'm sure it's a big part of why I've fallen into this horrible depression. Exercise has only helped me.
 

DaaaBulls

Well-known member
Exercise helps my anxiety soo much. Right after I exercise I feel like I can do anything or talk to anyone. That's how I ended up talking to this one chick at work, but of course that wears off and I am back to being anxious. Maybe I should just work out every half hour or something and I will be fine.
 
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