Exercise outdoors, find a workout buddy, and other ways to get more mental health benefits from your fitness routine

You may feel sweaty, out of breath, and exhausted after a workout, but chances are the burst of activity made you feel great, too. Beyond building muscle, burning calories, improving flexibility, and all the other physical benefits associated with exercise, exercise also has a profound effect on your mental health through the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and endorphins. which can help reduce stress, improve your mood. (and sleep!) and contributes to a host of other positive aspects to your overall well-being.

Bottom line: Exercise is good for your body and mind. But if you want your workouts to have an even bigger impact on your mental health, read on to see what tweaks experts recommend. From getting a running buddy to swapping the gym for the outdoors, here are ways to make your fitness routine even more enjoyable.

Practice mindfulness

Dr. Ulrick Vieux, a sports psychiatrist at Hackensack Meridian Health, tells Yahoo Life that to get the most mental health benefit from your workout, you need to practice mindfulness, which is the act of mentally staying in the present moment . When you’re not living in the moment and you’re worried about the future, your cortisol rises and your anxiety increases, she explains, noting that over time this kind of stress can increase the likelihood of developing chronic diseases like hypertension.

One way to practice mindfulness during exercise is to go for a walk, which most people can do for exercise, says Vieux. He recommends making time for 150 minutes of exercise a week (which is also the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); this can include walking, and those 150 minutes can be split up in any way that suits your schedule. During your walk, you can practice staying in the moment by observing your surroundings and focusing on the feelings and sensations you experience instead of the long list of tasks that may be waiting for you back home.

Make your workout social

People who bond with other people tend to be happier, according to research, and if you want a thriving social life, you need to cultivate one. If you find yourself constantly changing plans with friends to sneak in a workout, why not combine your social time with some exercise? One way to help motivate people to be consistent with exercise is to find a walking group, Vieux says. Or, if you meet a good friend, why not ask them to walk together?

While walking makes it easy to catch up and retrace your steps, you can combine exercise with socializing in other ways. Maybe instead of having dinner with a friend, go to a yoga class together and then talk over smoothies after class.

If you don’t have many friends who want to be active, Rachel Goldberg, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles with personal training, tells Yahoo Life that finding people who want to exercise together can also be rewarding. A workout partner or group setting fosters a sense of inclusion and shared interests that you might not experience with other friends or family, she explains. Finding a group to train with can mean chatting with regulars at a fitness class or using the Internet to find meetup groups around exercise.

Try yoga

Research has credited yoga with a range of mental health benefits, from reducing stress and anxiety to improving mood, sleep quality and overall well-being.

If you’re a regular yogi who wants to try something new, hot yoga has specifically been shown to have a positive impact on people with depression. Plus, you’ll get the added benefit of increased flexibility as your muscles are pre-warmed in the heat.

Up the ante in your training

Exercise doesn’t have to be relaxing to benefit your mental health. Goldberg points to research that has found that higher-intensity workouts can be more effective at alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression, noting that introducing high-intensity exercise two or three times a week can improve your mental health .

However, you don’t have to do burpees or jumps for a workout to count as high intensity. It can be as simple as taking the exercise you’re already doing to the next level, like speeding up on a recumbent bike to get your heart rate up through intervals, he says.

Exercise outdoors

Several studies have found benefits for spending time in nature, from a reduction in stress to a decrease in negative feelings. Just spending time in green spaces, such as a park, has also been shown to have physical benefits, such as slowing the aging process.

Exercising outdoors, such as running, cycling or walking, is a great way to stimulate the body by bringing in fresh air, vitamin D from the sun and seeing changes in scenery, Bradley Donohue, clinical sports psychologist and lecturer distinguished from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, tells Yahoo Life. These factors help shape a positive mindset and inspire the effort to engage in moderately vigorous physical activity that we know is critical to a healthy life.