Is it true exercise makes you happier?

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Loads of people have suggested I should exercise because it makes you feek better about yourself, helps make you more confident, healthier and can introduce you to new people. However im septic, I've never been big on exercise even though I l've walks and bike rides, I tend to laze around and am quite unfit and possiblely a little overweight. Iguess also the work involved in exercise puts me off.

The thing is even though I am unhealthy and pretty depressed at the current time would it really help me feel better and also benefit my confidence and possiblely help me make new friends? Will it really benfit me or wilk the work be to much as im pretty unfit snd hardly know a thing about fitness. So what would you recommend I do and is it true that it makes you happier? Please feel free to leave your thoughts on this if or not you think it's good or bad.

My main problem is being unfit and the effort thing, I mean is it really worth it?

walking is not too strenuous and has been shown to boost mood in the short term before any of the benefits you mention. try a twenty minute walk, with breaks if need be. it should help you sleep better at night, too.

at least for me, fitness=feeling better in general.

to the OP: please get a handle on your physical conditioning now when you are still young and thus more easily able to change course. when you do it like me, as an old person, it is much harder to change one's habits.

I stayed unfit, inactive and overweight for years, thinking it was too much effort and it wouldn't make a difference in how I felt. But it did.

I cut down on food (not dieting, I eat pretty much what I want, just less of it while cutting out the worst of the fatty, sugary, processed stuff), ate less salt, and started walking more. Some of the benefits took awhile, like pretty much eliminating my asthma and easing the strain on my knees. But other benefits came quicker. I think it was maybe a week or ten days when I came home from work and noticed my ankles weren't swollen. Before that, I'd get up, go to my computer, sit down for an hour and just from that my ankles would swell. And then swell worse from being at work.

Walking releases endorphins, which gives you a feeling of well-being. You can join meetup groups to walk with other people, which would give you more socializing as well as the health benefits. Or you could walk by yourself someplace safe using earphones and playing music or books on tape, which would make it less boring.

Like aunt blabby said, it's easier if you work on yourself when you're younger. Not just that it's easier to change habits, but the health benefits are better the younger you start. You lose weight easier for one thing.

Exercise can help stave off depression, but only if you enjoy the exercise you're doing.

Walking is a good way to start, but instead of just walking for no other reason, work the walk into your routine. Walk to the store, walk to visit a relative, walk to explore a part of town you're not familiar with. When you multitask, you get better in multiple ways.

for about 8 years after I got out of the army, I just vegged and sat around and was not physically active in the least [outside of a stressful job]. I ate what I wanted and eventually became obese. but since I was still young then, I was able to turn it around within 6 months and get back to my army level of fitness. then about a decade later when my parents passed, everything happened to me at once and I got stressed out and stopped exercising again and ate what I wanted [comfort food] and got obese again, that lasted for about 5 years, then when I tried to get back on track it was a LOT HARDER and took me 3 years and counting to get back into shape, and am still not in the shape I was in just 10 years before that point. the moral of the story is age is not your friend when one is trying to get fit. the moral pt. deux is that I wish to hell I'd never allowed myself to go to pot in the first place.

Thanks for all the feedback thus far, it's certainly inspiring yet I guess deep down I don't have this feeling of drive to exercise, maybe it's dye to the way I think or my mind set I mean I can see how it would help but at the same time almost could not give a dam about my health and I think that is due to me not caring enough. Last time I weighed myself I was around 13 and 1/2 stone is that good or bad for my age also im around 6 foot 4 in height as I know that counts.

Thanks I may be doing well however I must addmit my diet is not fantastic and I don't eat allot of fruit and veg some because of issues with the food and others because I don't enjoy the taste and that applys to most fruit and veg.

Don't worry about BMI, worry about your body fat percentage. You can tell if you're fat, or not by looking in the mirror as a general guide, don't get to fixated on BMI, especially if you start lifting weights. Use the scale, the mirror, measuring tape to measure your waist line and a bodyfat analyzer if you can find a decent one. At 6' 4" you can get to about 235 pounds(107kg) and be pretty lean. I know your not there yet, but my point is, once you start getting into fitness and weight training the BMI scale becomes even more useless. To answer your original question, yes getting into fitness can help you greatly. It'll increase your confidence, make you stronger, improve your health, make you feel better and actually help you focus more since your mind will be in less of a mental fog. I've noticed when I started to eat healthy I could think much clearer. In terms of friends, fitness can help you that too. However, you have to be in a situation to meet other people that are into fitness. Most people like to be lazy and eat junk all day. So, yes fitness will help you vastly and if you are prone to loneliness are depression as I am, fitness will give you something to take your mind off it and improve your mood. However, unless you're serious about it you won't get anywhere. Fitness is not a hobby, it is a life style and a commitment. You have to make it a high priority in your life, or you will falter. In the end it's worth it, but only if you're willing to put the time and effort into it.

If you're looking to get active in a way you enjoy, exploring is the only way to do it. I get my exercise from rugby and riding my bike, and in a couple weeks I'll be working out like crazy because of my job.

It took me a long time to find rugby. I'm pretty glad I did. Because of the nature of the sport itself, your teammates become family to you. If you don't work together, people can be seriously hurt.

It's a very fast-paced and physical sport. American Football is basically modified rugby with padding. Here's a video that pretty much shows just how physical it really is:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqBGx5XhmbM[/youtube]
No to mention there's companionship among the other teams as well. It's not necessarily just your team.

What I'm trying to say is that finding something you really enjoy will totally help you. Whether it be something slow-paced or fast-paced, it's really down to how you feel about it.

I know that my time at the gym is the only thing keeping me from full-blown depression right now.