Hey everyone, I'm Gretchen Reynolds, your guest host for the week.

Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday.

As you know, I'm a journalist and exercise science and fitness columnist for the Washington

post.

This week we're talking about the science of fitness and how adding some movement into

our daily lives can improve our well-being.

So today we're going to talk about how movement can play a role in boosting our mood and

help us work with anxiety and depression.

And I'll even share some insight on how to get moving when difficult feelings put a damper

on your motivation.

So what does the research say about the link between regular exercise and mental health?

It says that the link is very strong.

Just getting up and moving has a really significant effect on how likely you are to develop mental

health issues and that includes depression, anxiety, stress, and also it can be a way

to help treat those conditions if you've already developed them.

For example, I've had many friends who have had mental health challenges like almost all

of us and that was especially true during the pandemic.

Almost everyone, even people who had very good mental health beforehand, found the pandemic

really difficult to cope with.

If they or if I could get out on the trails, get out on the sidewalks, go for a walk,

go for a jog, go for a bike ride.

That allowed almost all of us to cope better, to feel back in control of some part of our

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