Can Exercise Cause You to Release Your Emotions?

The relationship between exercise and emotions is complex -- exercise facilitates positive emotions, but it also aids in processes that lead to better emotional functioning. Thus, exercise both directly and indirectly releases your emotions. Through the release of endorphins, exercises elicits positive feelings. Exercise also improves attention and thinking, leading to resolution of negative emotions. If you feel emotionally blocked and unable to get your emotions out, look to exercise as a way to release them.

Positive Emotions

• Exercise helps release positive emotions through the release of endorphins. These chemicals in your brain help you deal with pain, but have the added benefit of increasing positive emotions. Endorphins aid in treatment for depression. Not only do these chemicals elicit positive feelings, but their effect is also coupled with exercise's ability to make the brain more resilient, according to research in Neurological Medicine.

Less Stress, Better Processing

• Exercise mitigates the effects of stress, which allows for better emotional processing. Accumulating stress leads to feelings such as irritability or depression and anxiety at an extreme. According to Neurological Medicine, exercise provides a buffer to the negative effects of stress. With less stress, you are better able to process your emotions. Stress can often lead to a narrow focus and inhibit your ability to discern your emotions, such as in anxiety disorders, thus hindering your ability to release your feelings.

Better Thinking

• Research in "Psychology and Aging" states that thinking and concentration improve with exercise -- such a relationship goes on to affect your emotional life. Because emotions involve a cognitive component, being able to think clearly elicits improved ability to understand and express your emotions. When you are able to think and concentrate, you are more likely to use strategies that facilitate healthy emotional regulation. This process ends with you being better able to release your emotions in healthy ways.

Sleep

• Exercise's relationship with sleep contributes to the release of emotion. Exercise leads to better sleep, which in turn improves emotional processing. Research in "Preventive Medicine" states that lack of sleep is a significant factor in mood instability, the amount of fluctuation in your emotions over time. Disorders that relate to sleep loss, such as depression, indicate higher levels of mood instability than in those without depression. By getting more sleep, you improve your ability to deal with your emotions and prevent drastic mood changes. When your feelings are more consistent, you are better able to process and appropriately release them.