One Incredibly Easy Way to Improve Your Emotional Regulation

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We live in an emotionally topsy-turvy climate in which temper tantrums, rants, and unbridled outbursts seem to dominate the political arena and public airwaves. Are you finding it difficult to stay even keel in response to the lack of civility displayed by some candidates, as the presidential election heats up? If so, new research from Harvard University shows that aerobic exercise may help by improving your emotional regulation.

Just as anxiety is contagious, I believe that emotion regulation and magnanimity (or the lack thereof) are contagious, too. There's often a knee-jerk reaction to respond to hate speech, bigotry, and derogatory rhetoric with more mudslinging. However, as Aristotle (384-322 BC) reminds us,

"You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; For whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit ... Therefore we must give a certain character to our activities. In short, the habits we form make no small difference, but rather they make all the difference "

For me, the habit of regularly breaking a sweat through aerobic exercise has always been like an emotional steam valve on a pressure cooker. Exercise is both a sanctuary and elixir that gives me peace of mind, and equanimity, whenever I feel my blood might reach a boiling point. Anecdotally, I've learned through life experience that aerobic exercise helps me to self-regulate my emotions and stay even keel. Empirically, a new Harvard study published this week reaffirms the power of exercise to improve emotional regulation.

Aerobic Exercise Can Help You Stay Calm, Cool, and Collected

The April 2016 study, “Acute Aerobic Exercise Helps Overcome Emotion Regulation Deficits,” was published in the journal Cognition and Emotion. The study demonstrates the positive impact small bouts of moderate aerobic exercise can have on individuals experiencing emotion regulation difficulties.

For this study, Emily E. Bernstein and Richard J. McNally from the McNally Lab in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University tested how short periods of moderate exercise changed the emotional affect of study participants after watching an upsetting film clip. The study included a total of 80 participants (40 men and 40 women).

The subjects were asked to complete an online survey to measure their emotion response tendencies, mood, and anxiety. Then people were randomly instructed to either jog (aerobic) for 30 minutes, or stretch (non-aerobic) for 30 minutes.

After jogging or stretching, participants watched a tear-jerker scene from The Champ. The participants then completed a range of questionnaires and measures to determine their emotion regulation. Lastly, all participants watched a humorous clip from the comedy When Harry Met Sally.

The researchers had a hypothesis that aerobic exercise could change the way people respond to their negative emotions. The goal of this study was to specifically test whether individuals experiencing difficulties with emotion regulation would benefit from a previous session of exercise and exhibit swifter recovery than their counterparts who didn't exercise.

All participants underwent the same negative and positive mood inductions, and reported their emotional responses to watching these various movie clips. Those who perceived difficulty generating emotional regulatory strategies prior to the study had more intense and persistent negative responses to the stress of watching upsetting film footage.

As expected, the participants who had stated in the questionnaire that they felt powerless to making themselves feel better emotionally, also reported experiencing greater degree of feelings of sadness across the board during the study. However, one very significant revelation was that participants who had completed 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise reported feeling less sadness by the end of the study, in comparison to individuals who had not exercised aerobically.

Emotion Regulation Essential Reads

Do You Have a Regulation Partner?

How to Get the Most Out of Stoicism

In a statement, Bernstein and McNally concluded, "Participants who exercised were better able to overcome or compensate for initial difficulties drawing on regulatory strategies and with goal-directed cognition and behavior in comparison to non-exercisers.”

Regular Physical Activity Is Linked to Positive Emotions

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Over a century ago, William James observed, “We don’t laugh because we’re happy, we’re happy because we laugh.” I would go further. I believe, that in most cases, we don't exercise because we're happy, we're happy because we exercise.

An October 2015 study by researchers at Penn State found that people who reported higher positive psychological states were more likely to be physically active. The study, “Positive Affect and Health Behaviors Across 5 Years in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease: The Heart and Soul Study,” was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

For this study, Nancy L. Sin and colleagues at The Center for Healthy Aging assessed the psychological well-being of 1,000 participants who had a history of coronary heart disease at baseline and again at a five-year follow up. They asked each participant to rate the extent to which he or she had felt 10 specific positive emotions that included being "interested," "proud," "enthusiastic," "inspired," etc.

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Those who reported more positive emotions were more likely to be physically active. They also slept better and were less likely to smoke, compared to patients with lower levels of positive states. This is great news.

You can enter this feedback loop by deciding to start exercising, or by deciding to have a more positive explanatory style. Either kick-starting an upward spiral by becoming more physically active or savoring positive emotions (while focusing on healthy behaviors) can create a self-fulfilling prophecy of well-being

Conclusion: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss . . . "Sweat = Bliss"

A decade ago, I wrote in the introduction of The Athlete's Way: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss, "I love to sweat. When I am running, biking, or swimming, happiness pours out of me. I am not alone. Everyone who exercises regularly experiences this bliss. And it is available to you, too, anytime you break a sweat." When I made T-shirts to accompany the book, I silk-screened "Sweat = Bliss" on the back of the shirts. This simple equation sums up the correlation between aerobic exercise, emotional regulation, and positive emotions confirmed by the latest research.

It's nice to have empirical evidence confirm the universal power of aerobic exercise to improve our mood. Every week, there seems to be more proof that moderate aerobic exercise can improve psychological and physical well-being for people of all ages and walks of life. Hopefully, the latest research from Harvard University and Penn State will motivate you to make aerobic exercise a part of your daily routine.

The latest research adds to a growing body of evidence assuaging aerobic exercise’s reputation as being a "disagreeable experience." The therapeutic effects of exercise—specifically in the realm of emotional regulation and processing—are undeniable. The wide-ranging benefits of aerobic exercise are readily available to anyone who is willing and able to break a sweat.

To read more on this topic, check out my Psychology Today blog posts,

• "The Neuroscience of Savoring Positive Emotions"
• "7 Ways to Create a Positive Upward Spiral of Positive Emotions"
• "The Neurochemicals of Happiness"
• "The Upward Spiral of Healthy Behaviors and Positive Emotions"
• "Small Acts of Generosity and the Neuroscience of Gratitude"
• "Your Brain Can Be Trained to Self-Regulate Negative Emotions"

© 2016 Christopher Bergland. All rights reserved.

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