1

Galvan

Zujey Galvan

Ms. Nelson

ENGL 1302 104

09 September 2021

The Importance of Mental Health

To what degree can exercise help humans improve their mental health? It has been

claimed that mental health in both clinical and nonclinical populations Is positively affected by

vigorous physical activity. Some of these proposed psychological benefits are improved

confidence, well-being, anxiety reduction, and positive effects on depressed mood and

intellectual functioning. (Taylor 196). According to Charles Patrick Davis, maintaining a

healthy lifestyle is important for your mental health, exercise can help humans forget about their

problems and sometimes humans will think that is the least thing that would make them feel

better, however it ends up motivating them. Exercise can help humans deal with depression or

anxiety by allowing their mind to focus on something else, rather than worries. Anxiety is an

anormal and infrequently healthy emotion. However, when someone regularly feels

disproportionate levels of tension, it becomes a medical disorder. Depression is a medical illness

that affects how a human may feel or the way they think about life. Exercise has been shown to

provide many psychological and emotional benefits for human beings. The benefits of exercising

could help individuals Improve their mood, which helps treatments for anxiety and depression.

Explaining the Experiment

An experiment was designed to measure moods after exercise. For one week data was collected

on the participant’s mood in the twelve hours following exercise. This experiment lasted a week,
2
Galvan

and its purpose was to collect data on the participant’s mood in the twelve hours following

exercise. The participant exercised from Monday through Sunday to sand kept track of any mood

swifts in results of exercising. She met gym peers that motivated her and that kept her going.

There are some variables that contributed to her impacts on mood, the participant had school.

Monday through Friday from 8 in the morning until 2pm, and had work Tuesday, Wednesday,

and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. The participant had a follow up routine, every exercise

includes four sets and 8-12 reps. Monday: Back Workout, Deadlift, Lateral Pull down, Dumbbell

Row, One Arm Cable Row and Straight Cable Pull Down. Tuesday: Chest & Abs Workout,

Tuesday: Chest & Abs Workout, incline bench press, decline bench press, and push-ups.

Wednesday: Legs Workout, barbell back squat, Romanian deadlift, leg press, leg curl, walking

lunge and sissy squats. Thursday: Shoulders and Abs Workout, lateral raise, machine shoulder

press, decline sit up and barbell roll out. Friday: Legs workout, barbell back squat, Romanian

deadlift, leg press, leg curl, walking lunge and sissy squats. Saturday and Sunday all the

participant did was run 4 miles each day. These gym sessions consisted of two hours, depending

on the participants availability.

Meals

The participant kept track of her meals by using a. scale and following recommendations for

appropriate vegetable, grain, protein, and fat consumption. The participant followed the calorie

deficit, and she would break her meals into 3 along with two snacks, every morning she would

stat her day off with a protein shake and a gallon of water that she would drink throughout her

day. As a snack she would have a banana, then for lunch she would have 120 grams of non-fat

beef with a bowl of broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes. After that she would have what is
3
Galvan

called a pre-workout meal, this was half of a peanut butter sandwich with half of a sliced banana

on top. This would be taken an hour before hitting the gym, for extra energy. Getting home from

the gym the participant took her last meal which was 90 grams of chicken breast along with

white rice and a cup of strawberries, grapes, and oranges.

Results

The participant started seeing improvements in her mood Wednesday morning, she started

feeling better about herself and that eventually helped her manage depression and anxiety. The

participant started at 35 inches in waist Monday morning, Wednesday morning the participants

waist was already at 33, finally Sunday morning the participant had already made it to 29! At the

end of the experiment, the participant concluded a slight change in her body that kept her

motivated to keep working on her body and this improved her mood which helped her deal with

her depression and anxiety because she now had the gym as a distraction. Although there were

some factors that complicated this experiment, such as, the participant’s college classes, and

work.

Discussion

What is mental health?

“Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities,

can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a

contribution to his or her community”. (Felman 2020). Mental health can affect the choices

humans make, how they tend to talk to other people and how well they handle their stress.

Mental health also affects how humans think, often times humans make mistakes that harm

themselves, such as cutting themselves, not eating their meals and using drugs or drinking too

much. There are various warning signs that contribute to depression in humans, for instance,
4
Galvan

feeling numb, sleeping too much, having no energy at all, taking out the anger at everyone, and

always thinking of harming themselves.

Self Esteem

Self-esteem is the way a human being feels towards themselves, it is basically you view yourself.

The participant’s self-esteem was compared a week before the experiment and after the

experiment. Monday morning the participant was feeling unmotivated, she thought all this gym

idea was not going to work. Friday morning, she was feeling less bloated, more energetic, and

just happy with the way she looked. Self-esteem develops in humans once they start exercising

because that will give them confidence, humans mental health goes way more than just being

physically okay. However, feeling okay with their bodies will make them have a better mental

health. When humans focus on self-esteem, it is considered that their mental health would most

likely get better. As a result, self- esteem is a significant factor for both mental and physical

health. The participant was able to feel prettier from the inside and outside because her self-

esteem was terrible, every day she would wake up feeling ugly and that affected her mental

health as well. After all exercising from Monday through Sunday for a week straight allowed the

participant to feel better about herself.

Conclusion

The research experiment concluded that exercising improved the participants mental health, self-

esteem and was able to build a stronger connection with their family. The participant would get

home before the experiment was conducted feeling very sad, not feeling pretty, and would take

out that sadness out on her family. The study showed that after this experiment of going to the

gym Monday through Sunday for a week, allowed her to feel better about herself and started
5
Galvan

treating her family with respect and created an amazing bond with tem. As a result, other humans

can see this as an example to prove themselves that exercise can help them achieve all these

things.
6
Galvan

Works Cited

Mann, Michal (Michelle), Clemens M. H. Hosman, Herman P. Schaalma, and Nanne K. De

Vries. "Self-esteem in a Broad-spectrum Approach for Mental Health Promotion." OUP
Academic. Oxford University Press, 01 Aug. 2004. Web. 10 Sept. 2021.

Raglin, John S. "Exercise and Mental Health." Sports Medicine. Springer International

Publishing, 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2021.

Taylor, C B, J F Sallis, and R. Needle. "The Relation of Physical Activity and Exercise to Mental
Health." Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974). U.S. National Library of
Medicine, 1985. Web. 10 Sept. 2021.

"Mental Health: Definition, Common Disorders, Early Signs, and More." Medical News Today.
MediLexicon International. Web. 16 Sept. 2021.

Behere, Aniruddh Prakash et al. “Effects of Family Structure on Mental Health of Children: A
Preliminary Study.” Indian journal of psychological medicine vol. 39,4 (2017): 457-463.
doi:10.4103/0253-7176.211767

Charles Patrick Davis, MD. "Healthy Living Facts, Diet and Exercise Tips & Tools for
Success." MedicineNet. MedicineNet, 07 Nov. 2019. Web. 18 Sept. 2021.