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Stress busting fitness tips

Does it seem like no matter how many hot baths you take and relaxation candles you light, you still feel tense and tired? Exercise could be the key to helping you chill out.

It's well known that exercise helps relieve stress, but it's usually when we feel we can least afford the time to do it that we need to workout the most.

'There's no doubt that physical exercise has a positive effect on stress and can calm the mind and relax the body,' says Lorna Lee Malcolm, Director of Reebok University UK. 'Big companies that have encouraged their employees to exercise have seen improved decision making, greater concentration and a drop in absenteeism.'

A challenging work-out such as a Body Pump class or a twenty minute cycle will give you time to clear your mind and provide a healthy outlet for pent up tension and frustration. It will also cheer you up as exercise releases endorphins - the body's feel-good hormones.

'After being stuck in traffic for half an hour, a dynamic workout that works the cardiovascular system and raises your heart level, such as an aerobics or martial arts class, can do wonders for stress levels,' says Malcolm.

'Working with weights can also help alleviate stress and ease tense muscles, but it's important to do lengthy warm-up first. A good ten-minute warm up will mobilise the joints, release tension and feed muscles with blood and nutrients. Muscles will then be relieved of stress tension before they go into exercise tension.'

Check out these other great stress-busting fitness regimes:

• T'ai Chi
  'Conserving energy is more important than spending it,' says Peter Chin Kean Choy of the Rainbow T'ai Chi Chi Kung School in Devon. 'It's about understanding energy and feeling power within the body. A lot of people say that after taking up T'ai Chi they get back a youthful and rejuvenating energy, giving them the strength to fight everyday hassles.'
  It's believed that the controlled and meditative moves of T'ai Chi allow your mind to expand and you learn to let your frustrations go. The result is that you begin to develop a more relaxed and happy outlook - which is great in times of stress.
  
  
  
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