8 Keys to Mental Health Through Exercise

Inspiring strategies from a wellness expert for keeping fit, relieving stress, and strengthening emotional well-being.

We all know that exercise is good for physical health, but recently, a wealth of data has proven that exercise also contributes to overall mental well-being. Routine exercise alleviates stress and anxiety, moderates depression, relieves chronic pain, and improves self-esteem.

In this inspiring book, Christina Hibbert, a clinical psychologist and expert on women's mental health, grief, and self-esteem, explains the connections between exercise and mental well-being and offers readers step-by-step strategies for sticking to fitness goals, overcoming motivation challenges and roadblocks to working out, and maintaining a physically and emotionally healthy exercise regimen. This book will help readers to get moving, stay moving, and maintain the inspiration they need to reap the mental health benefits of regular exercise. The 8 keys include improving self-esteem with exercise, exercising as a family, getting motivated, changing how you think about exercise, and the FITT principle for establishing an effective exercise routine.

Christina G. Hibbert, PsyD, is the author of the award-winning memoir This is How We Grow and Who Am I Without You. She is a former fitness instructor and current clinical psychologist, specializing in exercise and mental health, grief/loss, parenting, self-worth and personal growth. Dr. Hibbert is a dynamic speaker, host of the radio show, Motherhood, founder of the Arizona Postpartum Wellness Coalition, and producer of the internationally-sold DVD, Postpartum Couples. She, her husband, and their six children live in Flagstaff, AZ. Learn more about Dr. Hibbert through her popular website and blog, "The Psychologist, The Mom, & Me," on www.DrChristinaHibbert.com.

Babette Rothschild, MSW, LCSW, is an internationally recognized PTSD specialist and best-selling author of seven books translated into twenty languages. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.