What is Psychology? 

Psychological therapy involves connecting with a psychologist to better understand you—how you think, feel, and behave. It's about exploring the inner workings of the human mind, focusing on the experiences that shape us, the challenges we face, and our potential for change. In a clinical setting, a psychologist will aim to understand you and your experiences, utilise evidence-based techniques, and turn this into practical, real-world support. Our work involves helping you gain clarity on your struggles, managing difficult emotions, healing from difficult past experiences, and developing effective tools to improve your relationships and overall quality of life. Essentially, we aim to help you understand yourself better so you can live a life that feels meaningful to you.

What is Exercise Physiology?

Exercise Physiology is the application of exercise science and human physiology, utilised in a clinical setting. An Exercise Physiologist uses this specialised, evidence-based knowledge for the purposes of rehabilitation of injury and chronic health conditions, and enhancement of developmental challenges. We design highly individualised exercise programs to help individuals safely recover from injury, manage chronic diseases (like diabetes or heart conditions), and ultimately improve physical function, strength, and overall quality of life. Essentially, we aim to enhance your functional capacity and improve your physical health and wellbeing so you can live a life that feels meaningful to you.

Emotion Regulation describes a person’s ability to manage their emotions in an effective manner - inclusive of their ability to recognize and understand the varying types of emotions, and how to express them appropriately.

An important part of emotion regulation revolves around Introspection and a person’s ability to look inward in order to better understand exactly “what” they are feeling - thereby facilitating greater self-awareness, particularly with identifying emotional triggers. In short, the goal of emotion regulation is to help an individual be able to work through their emotions during perceived distressing events, as opposed to becoming overwhelmed by them.

When we think of emotion regulation, we typically think of strategies that help us regulate our emotional state. Certain strategies may revolve around breathing (e.g., box breathing), mindfulness techniques (e.g., blowing bubbles), and grounding techniques (e.g., five senses activity), among others.

How does Exercise and Movement fit into the mix?

“Movement is Medicine” - The physical benefits of exercise are well known and thoroughly researched, but what about the psychological benefits, the social benefits? These benefits in particular, play a pivotal role in supporting the improvement of emotion regulation capabilities.

To begin, what are some of the benefits?

1. The release of endorphins and lowers circulating cortisol

   a. Dopamine - Plays a role in pleasure, motivation, mood regulation, movement initiation, sleep patterns, and learning and development, among others;

   b. Serotonin - Plays a role in mood regulation and helping provide a sense of ‘calmness’, sleep patterns, and memory and cognition, among others;

   c. Epinephrine - Triggers our “fight or flight” response, but in the context of mental health, it can improve our tolerance towards coping with stressful events.

   d. Cortisol - Prolonged high cortisol is often associated with chronic stress, significantly impacting our mental health and well-being

2. Improve our sense of self, particularly our self awareness, self-esteem, and self-confidence

   a. Self awareness can play a pivotal role in emotion regulation as it ties directly into having a good understanding of our thoughts and feelings at any given time. Having a strong sense of self can help us identify our emotions in the moment and subsequently choose our actions instead of relying on impulse. Strong self awareness can also foster resilience, helping us withstand and recover from difficult circumstances.

3. Helps support the development of our social-communication skills and it can help us foster social connection 

   a. Effective communication skills tend to be a necessity in emotion regulation as it helps a person verbalise what they’re feeling (e.g., “I am overwhelmed”) and what they may need as support. This is particularly useful in the context of a person self-regulating or receiving co-regulation provided by others. Being able to verbalise our thoughts and feelings also ensures a person is not only internalising their experience, which can often exacerbate the situation.

So then…What type of exercise? 

Firstly, we must distinguish between exercise and physical activity

1. Exercise - Movement that is structured, plan, goal-oriented, usually to improve/maintain physical fitness (e.g., gym training)

2. Physical Activity - Any bodily movement that uses energy (e.g., walking, chores, gardening)

When promoting engagement, both exercise and physical activity are useful. More importantly, we should often prioritize engaging in what provides us with enjoyment and a sense of self satisfaction.
[Using myself as an example, I enjoy going to the gym, I enjoy playing with my grandma’s dog, I enjoy playing basketball, I DON’T particularly enjoy gardening, so what should I do…? Well I probably shouldn’t garden]

With this in mind, a brief summary of the research tends to suggest:

1. Exercise Type - Aerobic* and Anaerobic* exercise can help elicit positive emotions in children and adolescents (1). Mixed exercise participation can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms while improving emotion regulation in children with ADHD (2).

2. Exercise Duration - A duration of 30min-60min appears to have the most profound positive effect (1, 2)

3. Exercise Frequency - One to Two days per week can oftentimes be sufficient (2)

4. Exercise Intensity - Moderate intensity exercise can oftentimes be the most appropriate intensity exercise to perform (1, 2)

Take Home Message

1. Exercise can play a supportive and important role improving the emotional regulation capabilities of children and adolescents alike.

2. Exercise Type, Duration, Frequency, and Intensity all play a role, but the most important factor is fostering enjoyment and providing a safe environment for exploration and development.

3. Helping model and participating in the desired activity will reinforce the learning and facilitate a deeper understanding.

4. Encourage and support active communication regarding bodily sensations and through using “I” statements

References

1. Li, J., Huang, Z., Si, W., & Shao, T. (2022). The Effects of Physical Activity on Positive Emotions in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21), doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114185

2. Song, Y., Jia, S., Wang, X., Wang, A., Ma, T., Li, S., Chen J., Guo, Z., Ding, F., Ren, Y., & Qin, M. (2025). Effects of physical exercise on anxiety depression and emotion regulation in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 12, doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1479615