Breaking news! According to Cornell Professor of Nutrition and Psychology, David Levitsky, exercise is THE single best thing you can do for your body!

As a Personal Trainer, I LOVED hearing these words. But truth be told, I immediately thought about diet, sleep and stress management, which are equally important. As I would soon learn, although the above are certainly beneficial, exercise is the catalyst that brings everything together to form a solid foundation for health and wellness.

Those who are depressed have a sense that life is out of control and they don’t believe they can create change. Therefore, exercise is the single best thing you can do, not only for your body, but also for your mind.

Why? Because exercise increases the turnover of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Anti-depressant drugs are also designed to increase neurotransmitter turnover. And the impact this has on your mind is a greater level of self-efficacy.

Self-efficacious people are more likely to stick to their eating plans, exercise 3-4 times per week, drink the necessary amount of water daily and get 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

There are a host of other reasons beyond the aforementioned ones, but if you can’t stick to your plan then what good is it? You must BELIEVE you are capable of achieving your goal before you can reap its benefits. Use exercise to get your mind right. Self-efficacy is EVERYTHING!