How Does Exercise Make You Feel?

On my very first day of lectures, one of my classes began with the question: “How does exercise make you feel?”. Naturally, the biased group of students in the room all replied “Good!”. But that raised another question: “Why?”. Now, this one was a little more tricky to answer. A simple “Because it just does!” wasn’t a good enough response. Digging a little deeper, each of us found that often, we could break these down into more specific explanations, but sometimes there just wasn’t one. It was just a feeling, and it couldn’t be described as anything more than just that.

So, then I began to wonder, can exercise change your emotions? Can it make you feel better when you are having a bad day? If so, can that emotional change help you maintain exercise behavior? Sadly, the answers aren’t so straightforward. Different people provide different explanations for this, but here are some interesting perspectives to consider.

Has anyone ever made you so angry that you just want to punch them? Unfortunately, we rarely get the opportunity to do just that. But what if you were given the opportunity to vent all your frustration without having to face the consequences slapping someone by means of a punching bag instead? That seems like a harmless way to release all the frustration bottled up inside, right? Wrong! (At least according to some existing research).

Research indicates that those who vent their frustration through aggressive means are more likely to show their anger on other people at a later point, and might even behave more aggressively towards others. But personally, I don’t think this gives us the entire picture. I wouldn’t completely disregard the benefits of exercise for venting anger and frustrations. From personal experience, I think it does have some potential benefits, but not directly in the form of a magical disappearance of all anger after punching a punching bag.

I think that the positive effects of exercise depends on one’s perception. There have been several times when I have been frustrated, either with a particular person or some circumstances that I cannot control and I have turned to exercise to get rid of that feeling, either by running or punching or even kicking a punching bag. I don’t entirely believe that such acts have led me to be angrier or more aggressive (my parents might beg to differ). Rather, this has allowed me to feel good about myself in some other aspects. Sometimes, I might just feel a little bit stronger or a little bit faster, and that in itself is something I might be proud of and distracts me from the source of frustration. Instead, this allows me to focus on something I achieved and that sense of accomplishment makes me feel just a little bit happier and better about myself. I think that is one of the ways exercise could indirectly have an impact on the way we feel.

So, if exercising could potentially make us feel better about other things, is there a way to actually change the way we feel about exercise itself?

One recent theory talks about two different types of thought processes and how it influences a person’s decision to exercise. These are (very creatively) called Type 1 process and Type 2 process. Simply put, Type 1 refers to that automatic gut feeling you get about something before you have actually given it much or any thought, while Type 2 refers to the process of making a decision by considering your personal values and needs as well as the pros and cons of the behaviour. For example, if your friend asked you to join him on a run, there are two processes going on. Type 1 might be the automatic “No, I really don’t feel like getting off the couch right now.” but Type 2 might say “I think I should go running because exercise is good for me and I want to be more fit”. When the Type 1 and Type 2 processes are conflicting, it is obviously much harder to begin exercising, and requires a lot more self control to resist the urge to not exercise, than if they were both in sync favouring exercise.

How do we get them to be in sync then? It isn’t easy. Type 1 processes are usually influenced by learning and past experiences that get stored in our memory. So, if you fight the urge to sit on the couch and join your friend on the run, you might actually find that you had a great time. Maybe you felt a sense of accomplishment for actually exercising or maybe you just liked spending time with your friend. Either way, with repeated experiences like these, your Type 1 process slowly shifts from “I’d rather sit on the couch” to “Yes, let’s do it!”, and with time, it gets easier. Eventually, you will notice a visible change, not just in your behaviour, but also your automatic thoughts and perceptions.

So, the only way to really make this change, if you wish, is to ask yourself: How does exercise make you feel?