Self-confidence can help you handle setbacks and failure without falling prey to depression or anxiety. It can also make you happy and improve your quality of life.
Movement matters if your self-confidence is lacking. Finishing a workout, especially one you were dreading, affirms that you can set and achieve goals. This can build confidence over time. “You feel good because you’ve released a lot of neurotransmitters but also because you’ve done something you feel you need to do,” says Brie Vortherms, LMFT, a therapist and senior director of Life Time Mind.
“Strength training makes you feel more powerful and competent, but when you’re done running two miles, you feel pretty good about yourself too,” notes John Ratey, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.
Plus, the more you exercise, the more you’ll master your chosen activity — you’ll walk faster, run farther, lift heavier, progress to more difficult yoga poses, etc. Getting stronger, fitter, and faster can further improve your self-image, which is tied to self-confidence.
Any form of exercise can be beneficial. In one study on adolescents, resistance training had greater effects on self-esteem than did cardio; other research suggests dancing is great for improving self-confidence.
Learn More
For insights into building and maintaining trust in yourself,
go to “The Confidence Game.”
If you struggle with body confidence, look here for strategies to halt negative self-talk:
“Expert Answers: How Do I Boost My Body Confidence?“
Moving for Mental Health
Exercise is a powerful tool for improving mental health: It can reduce stress, relieve depression and anxiety, and be a salve for loneliness, to name a few of its benefits. Delve into the many ways movement can serve as medicine for the mind at “7 Ways Movement Benefits Mental Health,” from which this article was excerpted.
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