Aerobic Exercises for teenagers to overcome depression
By Mr. Devon Van Onselen, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach – ProSport Fitness Centre
Depression among young teens are rising at an alarming rate. The need to be socially acceptable and your public figure has a lot of impact on teens. The things you do, where you hang out and most importantly how you look plays major rolls. Not being in the cool crowd and not looking good has a massive impact on current depression on teens.
Depression can also be a medically induced symptom with dysfunction in the Amygdala. The part of the brain that controls your emotional responses and reactions. This can be positively affected by endorphins. And this is where the Aerobic fun part comes in.
When we workout or do something fun our body releases these feel-goodendorphins and our body respondspositively to it.
Now doing something fun will only have its short-term benefits and will most probably end up on a saved selfie folder. When struggling with depression we are looking for longer lasting positive effects on the mind and overall body and health. This can be done with cardiovascular training or better known as aerobic training.
Aerobic training is the a very broad and easy accessible way of training with great benefits for the body and mind. Now there is many ways to do aerobic exercise and can be done almost anywhere you go.
When we think about aerobic training the first thing that jumps to mind is running. Now running has a few great benefits to make the Amygdala happy and get the feel-goodendorphins going. When we run outside we are subjected to fresh air, a change of scenery and most of all a free way to get fit and feel good.
When choosing the running option start slow and set small reachable targets. Start around the block until you feel tired and check the time it took you. Then set close landmarks or parks you want to reach and return. Doing it this way you find new routes and new challenges on your way to becoming fitter and having fun at the same time.
Now to add more fun to the running you can get friends to join in or even better join a running club or group and make new friends who can inspire you to become better and fitter on your way to feeling better and boosting your confidence.
Here are some fun ways to get fit quickly and get those endorphins going. Run fast from one lamp post to the next then slow down for the next two repeat these ten times and you will burn good fat as well as having fun chasing your friends between posts.
Another way is finding a challenging hill. First run it up slowly and walk down then go a bit faster and walk down. Do this till you feel you are going flat out then take a nice stroll home.
Now there are more ways than just running, you can grab your dusty old bike and use that to have fun and explore new places and make use of the same training as running just on two wheels which will provide a whole different challenge.
I hope you find as much joy in aerobic training as I have in my training years.
