The benefits of exercise on mental health are known and accepted but what about turning the tables to assess the impact of your mental health on your fitness journey? Physical exercise stimulates the release of hormones like dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and endorphins. These contribute to uplifted moods and lowering stress levels. But have you ever wondered how our mental health, psychological state to be specific, can affect our fitness journey without us even being aware of it? Let us examine a few aspects and get more information and tips regarding the same in this article.
Let us take a Hypothetical Situation
Meet A
- He loves to socialize and meet new people.
- Joins the gym to get fit and also to make new friends.
- Feeling a sense of belongingness, he begins to fulfil his need for self-esteem.
- Trains hard to acquire respect for himself and among his friends and sees brilliant results.
Meet B
- He has social anxiety.
- He wants to be fit but the thought of meeting people and making eye contact with them makes him intensely nervous and anxious.
- He doesn’t join the gym or seek help. A vicious circle of low self-esteem and zero motivation begins.
A and B both desire to be fit, but B lacks motivation because of his psychological state and he needs to address this.
How to address these issues?
- Awareness – The first step to making any change is being aware of it and accepting it. The last thing you should do when you find an issue is to be in denial about it.
- Expression – Once you have become aware of an issue, express this to a confidante or a well-wisher. Don’t be ashamed of your situation at any point.
- Seeking professional help – Talking about it may not be enough. You may have to consult a professional counsellor/therapist.
- Full Disclosure – Suppose you begin your fitness journey with a coach, be honest and open about your circumstance. It will help them to assist you too.
Motivation and Fitness
Motivation is a desire for change, either in the self or the environment. According to psychologist Abraham Maslow’s HIERARCHY OF NEEDS model, we have six basic needs that we are motivated to fulfil in a hierarchy. These needs are as follows
Physiological needs – these are the most basic requirements for the immediate survival of humans. These needs include food, water, air, clothing, and shelter.
Safety needs – at this point the human focus shifts to long-term survival. These needs include the security of one’s own home, job, life, etc.
Social needs – once long-term safety is guaranteed humans need to fit in their social circle and as we are social beings. We want to feel that sense of belongingness both sexually and asexually.
Esteem needs – at this level we seek self-esteem and self-respect. This can be attained via professional or personal avenues and may take the forms of rewards, recognition, and achievements.
Self-actualization needs – it pertains to our desire to understand, explore, and fulfil one’s true potential. If this need is not met it may lead to frustration and anxiety especially for those who have goals set for themselves.
Transcendence needs – these are also called spiritual needs but they are different from the other need. They can be met on multiple levels.
How can these needs relate to the motivation that you need for getting fit and for changing yourself?
You may follow a fitness regime or get motivated to hit the gym and exercise to satisfy some of these needs. Now, let us first understand where exactly does motivation for attaining fitness fits in Maslow’s hierarchy? It can fit in the first two levels of needs to a small extent but to a larger extent, it is relevant to the social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Also depending on the person, it can fit in either one or simultaneously more of these three needs.
You also need to judge whether your motivation to exercise/get fit or to fulfil these needs is intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation. If it is intrinsic chances are that this motivation will remain longer and you will not get demotivated when that motivating factor is no longer present.
Social needs – you may want to get fit to look good and hence feel that you belong and fit in with other people around you, but this is an external motivation. Alternatively, if you are intrinsically motivated to go to the gym and then feel a sense of belonging to the fitness community this motivation will be maintained for a longer duration.
Esteem needs – if you decide to get fit because you want others to respect you, this is an extrinsic motivating factor but if you want to get fit so that you can respect and love yourself the motivation factor is an intrinsic one. You need to make sure that your motive satisfies your need for self-respect.
Self-actualization needs – if your motivation to start your fitness journey is linked to self-actualization and you want to give in to your true potential, become the best version of yourself then your motivation is highly to be an intrinsic one and this is the ideal need which should be felt for you to change your health habits. It will mean that you are changing for the correct reasons. The effects too will be long-term. But, reaching a level where you feel this need may not always be an easy task.
It is always better to start from the basic needs and you will notice that as time goes by you will progress to the higher levels of the hierarchy. You must realize that you have adequately met the preceding needs before exploring the more complex needs. Give yourself the best possible chance to strengthen and maintain your motivation. Having unsatisfied needs to dominate your behaviour is not a very good place, to begin with, your fitness journey.
So now that you know how your mental health is important to begin and sustain your physical fitness go on and identify those needs and start working on your motivation. You will see the change in yourself. Let your mind push your body and see how far you can go!
About the Authors :
A psychologist by education and a fitness enthusiast by choice, Saakshi dreams to combine these worlds. Content writing and social media management is a passion that keeps her in the constant learner mode.
Dr Pooja Nilgar (Content writer and editor)
