Sweat isn’t a Substitute: Gym helps, but it’s not Therapy

With the growing awareness around mental health and therapy, it’s common to see individuals turning to self-care practices to manage stress, anxiety, and emotional fatigue. One such practice is hitting the gym. Physical activity is often considered as a “natural antidepressant” since it releases Endorphin which is a natural pain-killer produced by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland in our brain. While it is true that physical movement plays a crucial role in maintaining and regulating both body and mind, it is equally important to acknowledge its limitations as you really cannot sweat your emotions or grind away your pain. 

Read More: Exercise and Mental Health

Physical Benefits Of Hitting The Gym

• Increased muscle strength and endurance: Helps to build lean muscles and improves stamina. 
• Improved cardiovascular health: Strengthens our heart and improves blood circulation. 
• Weight management: Maintains healthy body weight with respect to Body Mass Index. 
• Better flexibility and mobility: Reduce risk of injury and enhance body movement. 
• Better sleep quality: Helps in falling asleep faster and improves sleep cycles. 

Mental Benefits Of Hitting The Gym

• Reduces stress by lowering cortisol levels and releasing endorphins.
• Boosts mood by stimulating the production of serotonin and dopamine. 
• Increases blood flow to the brain which aids and increases focus and concentration. 
• Enhance self-esteem, confidence, mental resilience and discipline by achieving every day goals and witnessing progress. 

Obviously, these benefits do not end here and there are more of them. These are the most common and popular benefits of physical activity.

Read More: The Positive Impact of Gyming on Mental Health: Strengthening Body and Mind 

What Therapy Offers That The Gym Cannot?

Gym and therapy both support mental and physical well-being, but therapy dives deeper as, 

• It addresses root psychological causes and helps to explore and understand the underlying reasons for emotional pain, trauma, and mental health disorders.
• Through guided sessions, one enhances their ability to communicate, express themselves and resolve both internal and external conflicts effectively. 
• Provides emotional insight and makes you emotionally intelligent and self-aware by understanding your thought patterns, beliefs, and emotions.
• Helps to strengthen your relationships with others by addressing personal and professional issues. 
• Offers a safe space to speak your heart and mind without any filters and fear of judgement. 
• Tracks mental health progress and adjusts the therapeutic techniques applied accordingly.  

Read More: Exercise Addiction: Balancing the Benefits and Risks for Mental Health

Why Individuals Might Prefer Gym Over Therapy?

• Exercise provides instant gratification by releasing endorphins whereas therapy can be a slower process. 

• Gym memberships are more affordable or accessible than therapy sessions, especially where mental health services are lacking. 

• There is less stigma and negative beliefs attached to going to the gym. Therapy is often associated with mental disorders and many fear being judged and labelled as weak, too sensitive, or crazy. 

• A chiselled appearance, pumped-up muscles and a shredded body are widely accepted and glorified by society while the idea of addressing inner conflicts and seeking psychological support is often frowned upon. 

• Going to the gym and acting on our choices provides a sense of control and autonomy while therapy requires surrendering, letting our guards down and facing our vulnerabilities, something that the ego tends to resist. 

• Physical appearances are easy to notice which makes individuals believe that changing them will make a difference, as society tends to be more accepting of such changes. After all, how often do we hear someone say “I love how you have nurtured and taken care of that amazing mind of yours”? But it is common to hear “I love how you have lost those extra calories and built some muscles.” 

Read More: Why Is Exercise And Good Nutrition So Important For A Healthy Brain?

Compliment Gym With Therapy For Overall Well-Being

Just as we need someone to spot us at the gym when we are struggling with heavy weights, our mental health needs a spotter too when the weight of our emotions becomes too overwhelming for us to carry alone. Suggestions on how one can focus on complementing rather than using the gym as a substitute for therapy:

• Recognize and understand that gym helps with physical health and mood regulation whereas therapy helps with processing psychological and emotional events and patterns. 

• Talk about your fitness journey during therapy sessions. Discuss how the gym influences your mood how it has helped you to transform into your ideal self and how you feel about that. 

• Physical activity improves sleep, and memory, reduces stress and boosts energy all of which can enhance our ability to think and act in a better way and engage more deeply with therapy sessions. 

• Set goals in the therapy room as you set goals at the gym. For example, you might start by hitting the gym regularly, followed by an appropriate diet, and eventually aim to lose or gain weight and build muscles. Similarly, in therapy set goals like addressing your insecurities, then building self-esteem and confidence, working on improving your relationship with others and so on. 

Conclusion

Let go of the “Either-Or Mentality.” You do not have to pick between gym and therapy. As Katherine Pierce from The Vampire Diaries famously said, “It’s okay to love them both.” I am not sure about loving two people at the same time, but I am confident that it is perfectly fine to choose both gym and therapy for holistic well-being. 

Gym and Therapy combined facilitate holistic well-being, by keeping you fit and healthy physically along with making you aware of yourself, your behavior patterns and of those around you. Therapy heals you from the inside out and the gym empowers you from the outside in. Together, they create a harmonious lifestyle where both the mind and the body are in sync with each other. 

FAQs

1. What is the duration of each therapy session?

45-50 minutes for individual therapy sessions, according to APA ethics (American Psychological Association) and general practice guidelines.

2. Isn’t the gym cheaper than therapy?

Yes, it can be. But both serve a different purpose. Therapy cannot help you build muscles and gym cannot help you strengthen your inter-personal and intra-personal relationships. 

3. Is the gym better than therapy?

No, both complement each other. 

4. Can going to the gym frequently eventually replace therapy?

No, the gym might help you cope over time, but you could end up overwhelmed. It is like using the gym as a container for unwanted thoughts- once it is full, it might break and cause even more damage. 

5. Can the gym cause a behavioural change? Even more than therapy?

Gym can lead to behavioural changes like improved discipline, confidence and stress management whereas therapy works at a deeper level- helping you understand why you behave the way you do and help break free from unhealthy and self-destructive patterns.