Final answer:
Exercise helps manage stress, anxiety, and depression by promoting the release of euphoriant neurochemicals, buffering against stress, improving mood, and providing long-term benefits to cognitive functions and physical health. Regular aerobic exercise can match the efficacy of antidepressants for mild-to-moderate depression and is recommended by healthcare providers.
Step-by-step explanation:
Exercise is a powerful tool for managing stress, anxiety, and depression. It has mental health benefits such as reducing stress levels, improving body image, and promoting positive self-esteem. Regular aerobic exercise can be as effective as pharmaceutical antidepressants for treating mild-to-moderate depression by increasing the biosynthesis of neurochemicals that act as euphoriants, sometimes leading to phenomena such as runner's high.
Exercise also helps manage stress by buffering against harmful physiological mechanisms. It decreases the responsiveness to stress in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, prevents telomere shortening, and maintains youthful appearance and cognitive functions, like memory. Among other effects, exercise releases endorphins, which play a role in the body’s response to pain and in promoting a positive effect on mood and emotions.