A physical therapist’s antidote to anxiety

Make no mistake about it: As a society, Americans today have a collective wrecked psyche. For two-plus years, we have been ravaged not only by Covid-19 but perhaps more so by the stress caused by lockdowns and surge scares and our neglect of overall health. Combine that with the uncertainty of today”™s world-from economic challenges to Supreme Court rulings to mass murders, and you have the recipe for mental health disorders. The most common of these is anxiety, affecting 40 million adult Americans alone.

As The Human Performance Mechanic, my “antidote to anxiety” is my two-word, lifetime mantra ”” work out. Exercise has been shown to be as effective as medication in treating anxiety disorders by promoting healthy brain function, improving mood and reducing stress. When you exercise, your body releases a cocktail of chemicals that offers a host of benefits. Endorphins act as natural painkillers to help improve your mood. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood as well, promoting feelings of well-being and happiness.

 Both types of exercise, aerobic and anaerobic, produce these chemicals of optimism. Aerobic exercise is any activity that gets your heart rate up and makes you breathe harder. This includes walking, running, biking, swimming and dancing, shown to be especially effective in reducing anxiety symptoms. Anaerobic exercise involves quick bursts of energy and is performed at maximum effort for a short time. Examples include jumping, sprinting, heavy weight lifting and resistance training.

 Your respiration and heart rate differ in aerobic activities versus anaerobic ones. Oxygen is your main energy source during aerobic workouts as you breathe faster and deeper than when your heart rate is at rest. You”™re maximizing the amount of oxygen in the blood. Your heart rate goes up, increasing blood flow to the muscles and back to the lungs. During anaerobic exercise, your body requires immediate energy and relies on stored energy sources rather than oxygen to fuel itself. 

Your fitness goals should determine whether you should participate in aerobic or anaerobic exercise. If you”™re new to exercise, you should probably start with aerobic exercises (walking, running, biking) to build up endurance to support future resistance training sessions. Plus, you don”™t need a health club. 

I am partial to building muscle mass and strength, because when we build muscle, we are also providing additional benefits to our mind and body. For those with injuries who cannot get into heavy lifting, there is a technique called Blood Flow Restriction training, which simply gives you the same benefits of lifting heavy weights with lighter weights. BFR allows you to ”˜tap the pump”™ without joint stress. It”™s not if, it”™s when you”™ll need Blood Flow Restriction. 

 In the past decade, we”™ve discovered that muscles are much more than aesthetically pleasing additions to our appearance. Research has found that the addition of aerobic and/or resistance training enhances the body”™s ability to combat some of the processes thought to contribute to the symptoms of anxiety, including inflammation. 

Now, it”™s time to take the leap of faith and, if you were a health-club buff, get back to the gym. Or if not, take to the pavement.  

As hard as it might be to begin the journey of exercise, especially when you”™re feeling down, here”™s one simple piece of advice that has served my clients well:  Start small. 

Many fail to make changes because the initial decision itself can be overwhelming. But in the words of either the Irish statesman Edmund Burke or the English cleric Sydney Smith, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing, because he could do only a little.” So if you drive to places you could walk to, then walk. If you must drive, then park in the farthest spot possible to get in some extra steps. 

 On the surface it may seem silly or unproductive, but beginning a routine with small, beneficial lifestyle choices can provide a solid foundation for when you are ready to make those larger changes. 

Physical therapist Nick Rolnick is the founding owner of The Human Performance Mechanic, specializing in McKenzie Therapy (mechanical diagnosis and therapy) and Blood Flow Restriction training. A graduate of Scarsdale High School, he has had an interest in sports and performance from his days as captain of the baseball team at Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he achieved all-conference honors, to his more recent pursuits as a men”™s physique competitor. Since graduating with a Master of Science degree in health promotion management from American University in Washington, D.C., he has earned a doctorate in physical therapy with honors at Columbia University in Manhattan. Rolnick taught kinesiology in the Master of Science Applied Exercise Science program at Concordia University in Chicago and undergraduate kinesiology at Lehman College in the Bronx. For more, visit thehpmny.com and bfrtraining.com.