(ThyBlackMan.com) We now know that the epicenter of depression is the brain. How we feel about ourselves and our ability to stay positive has as much to do with how our brain is functioning than any other organ in our body. Although depression must be treated according to the level of severity at which one experiences it, we now have a new weapon in our arsenal with which to fight it: exercise. Thankfully, the pendulum of influence has swung back toward our favor.
Exercise affects the brain on so many different levels. It increases heart rate, which pumps more oxygen to the brain; it helps the body in releasing hormones, which have very beneficial effects for our body and it gives the brain a major boost in functionality. Yet there are so many other ways that exercise shows up as a positive.
Exercise is an important ally in the battle against a feeling of 
melancholia; hence, if used judiciously it can give us a host of rewards.
Here are three ways exercise is a great antidepressant.
Exercise Makes you Feel Good
The first way exercise works as an anti-depressant is its ‘feel good’ quality – exercise makes you feel good! As mentioned, this happens as a result of the brain releasing a hormone called dopamine into our body during exercise. Dopamine is a feel-good hormone which allows you to do just that: feel good. That’s because a workout is not only a workout for the body, it’s also good exercise for the brain.
This is not just a fleeting feeling – these are feelings of euphoria unmatched by any external agent that can potentially last for days. This feeling is an altered state and it’s naturally produced by the brain during or immediately after a quality, sustained, high-intensity workout.
Exercise Makes you Look Good
When you feel good, you look good. Looking good is probably the number one reason why most people workout – to lose the unwanted pounds, to get into a dress for a special occasion or to attain that coveted bikini body.
Whatever the inspiration, the sustained euphoria of feeling good also heightens your appeal, as well. There is a sense of buoyancy that accompanies exercise, a feeling that one is moving toward an established goal. This feeling is not contained by inches or pounds lost, it is not measured by sweat, but rather the quality of work that a person puts into a workout. If you put something in, you’ll get something out. When other people see you, they see the changes and those compliments are recycled into the brain as “I look great!”
Exercise Makes you Perform Good
What if you had the chance to perform at a maximum level? What would be the ultimate reward? For most, it would be more money. Exercise can literally give you a pay raise! How? Because when you feel good, you look good.
When you feel and look good, you perform at a higher level. That coveted managerial position you’ve been eyeing is now totally within reach. You become mentally alert and emotionally present. You have more stamina and endurance than you’ve ever imagined. You are more in control of your emotions – not given to spasms of anger and disturbance, as you may have previously been. In short, you are performing at a superlative level and it shows up in your wallet in your performance and in your wallet!
Exercise can make you feel, look and perform good!
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.
