Hi, I'm Kevin Don, the Get Fit Guy, and I'm here to help you develop a keen eye for the facts and body swear of the fallacies when it comes to fitness.

Welcome to episode 600. Now, I may still be the newest Get Fit Guy on the block by wanting to take a second to thank you all for listening to this podcast.

Whether you've been here for all 600 episodes or you're just joining us for the first time today, I'm so glad you're here.

So let's jump into the episode.

It's widely known that exercise is good for us, not just for its physical effects, but the positive effects

on our mood and state of mind. Many healthcare providers and fitness influencers shout loud

about the positive effects of exercise on depression and anxiety. But are there any caveats to this?

If we're feeling low and want to improve our mood, is it just a case of hitting the gym, or are there specific types of exercise where we're not going to be able to be able to this? If we're feeling low and want to improve our mood, is it just a case of hitting the

gym or are there specific types of exercise we should aim for or maybe avoid? So let's dig into

this and see if we can further define what exercise is good for mental health really means.

Now, according to the British NHS, which is the National Health Service,

being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active.

Regular exercise can boost your mood if you have depression, and it's especially useful

for people with mild to moderate depression. Any type of exercise is useful, as long as it suits you,

and you do enough of it. Now, this is a pretty authoritative statement, but at the same time,

also pretty general. For the purpose of staying in my lane, and this being a fitness show,

let's only focus on the last sentence, where they state that any type of exercise is useful,

and have a look at if this is really the case, as well as looking at why they say exercise is a

great intervention. Now, the most common reason is that exercise boosts serotonin levels.

Low serotonin levels are associated with depression.

There many studies conducted over the years which have positively demonstrated the role of

serotonin in depression and anxiety, so much so that it's quite common to find that most of the

...