How much exercise to reduce anxiety and tiredness?

So I have quite bad anxiety and tiredness and I was doing a short hard run of about 4 minutes twice a week. It had literally no effect at all on my anxiety or tiredness. Am I not running long enough? How much should I do?

Reply 1

Dunnig Kruger

Run to your local supermarket. Buy tasty combinations of fruits, veggies, leaves, herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, legumes. Carry them home.
Prepare or cook them into delicious combinations.

See how the combination of good food with exercise helps with your anxiety and tiredness.
In parallel work on your inner world. What you can do to change your thought patterns and approach to life to address or mitigate the anxiety.

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/fatigue/
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/anxiety/

Reply 2

bl0bf1sh

Original post by Anonymous

It's not a "one size fits all" thing, I'm afraid.
8 minutes out of a total of 10080 minutes in a week is quite a small proportion, so will probably not make much significant difference to your anxiety and tiredness.
I think the most important thing with exercising is to find something you really enjoy; it doesn't have to be intense or hugely physically demanding, just a way to move your body in a way that a) feels good and b) you enjoy. Maybe try a short walk, away from work and stress, a few times a week, maybe meet up with a friend, or put a podcast on. If you want to run, could you try going on a slightly longer, but much more gentle, jog, maybe explore some new paths or something? Start with 10 minutes or so and build it up gradually, maybe work towards doing a 5k? Or cycling, swimming, yoga, tennis… It probably won't be a miracle cure but if it's something you can look forward to then it's doing you good :smile:

Also make sure you're getting enough rest, and eating enough – I don't think it's necessary to track what you eat but try to get a balance – some protein, fats and carbohydrates, some fruit and veg, and some water (and of course some cake) :smile:

Reply 3

LSG28

Maybe try doing couch to 5k, as you probably won't see much results from only 4 minutes of exercise at a time, and that is a good way to slowly build yourself up. It also comes with some podcasts to help talk you through it.