You know the positive effects of exercise on your health: how it can benefit every part of the body and dramatically extend your lifespan. But did you know that—in addition to reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension—exercise also can play a role in helping some mental health issues? Physical fitness and regular exercise appear to buffer against depression and anxiety, promote calmness, enhance mood, and help protect against the negative effects of stress.

Exercise also can benefit your brain in other ways. Exercise benefits learning and memory, protects the brain from degeneration, and increases the brain’s ability to adapt after new experiences. Physical fitness and regular exercise promote both physical and mental resilience—something that is important for all to think about.

Check out HPRC’s Physical Fitness domain and the Family Fitness section of HPRC’s Family & Relationships domain for resources to improve your physical fitness.

Worrying is normal. If you tend to think that worrying will help you prevent stress later, you're not alone. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. Worrying can become a problem all by itself, especially when you're worrying about something that can't be solved. Try this instead: Make a habit of writing your worries down. Keeping a journal or a record, like some people do for weight loss or a training regime (see Rule #9 in OSOK’s 10 Rules of Engagement), can help you see patterns and trends, mark progress, and simply get things off your mind. For some, seeing a concern written down allows them to "forget" it. Keep a journal in a place where you find yourself worrying a lot (except in your car—limit your writing to someplace safe), such as the dinner table or the nightstand beside your bed. When you find yourself worrying, start jotting, and over the course of the week, see if it hasn't helped you get a handle on worrying. If it helps you take action or let go, you've done your mind a favor.

Ever have a buddy ask, “What’s going on inside your head?” Now you can look at the inner workings of the mind—“Interactive Brain” helps you understand how specific parts of the brain can impact basic functions and performance. This tool provides facts about the functions of the right and left sides of the brain, as well as the anatomy of vision, including videos of how head injuries affect eye movement. By going through the sections and clicking the links on the diagrams, you’ll also gain insight into how certain brain injuries such as mild to moderate TBIs can impact performance. Be sure to watch the introductory and anatomy videos that accompany the interactive diagrams, especially if you want to understand traumatic brain injury better.

In an April 2012 Times article Dr. Martin Seligman, whose work on “positive psychology” influenced Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, explains his stance that soldiers can enhance their mental toughness through optimistic thinking. By seeing situations as temporary—“It will go away soon”—or specific—“It’s just this once”—or changeable—“I can do something about it”—you can make it through adversity and perform optimally. The training also emphasizes how resisting negative thoughts such as “Maybe I don’t have what it takes to be a soldier” while expressing gratitude—“I made it farther than I did last time”—are part of the puzzle to building resilience and becoming mentally tough. To learn strategies that can help build mental toughness, visit OSOK’s Mind Tactics module in HPRC’s Total Force Fitness domain.