{"id":463365,"date":"2026-02-12T02:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/463365\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T02:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:52:10","slug":"if-exercise-makes-you-feel-good-why-do-people-hate-doing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/463365\/","title":{"rendered":"If exercise makes you feel good, why do people hate doing it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The evidence is clear: Exercise has mental health benefits<\/a>, although studies have come to different conclusions about how large it might be.<\/p>\n

And yet, when February rolls around again, the gyms suddenly aren\u2019t so crowded as New Year\u2019s resolutions lose their shine. Nationwide, only about 30% of people meet the federal guidelines for physical activity<\/a>, and even in famously outdoorsy Colorado, just 35% do.<\/p>\n

So if exercise gets the endorphins flowing and gives a quick mood boost, why do many people find it hard to stick with?<\/p>\n

The popular perception that exercise produces endorphins, which then raise mood, isn\u2019t wrong, but it oversimplifies complex interactions between brain chemistry and mental states, said Katrina Oselinsky, a post-doctoral researcher at the Health and Wellness Center<\/a> on the University of Colorado\u2019s Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The same person could experience the same workout differently from day to day, depending on how they\u2019re feeling, what else is happening in their lives and the setting where they exercise, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile endorphins are part of the picture, there\u2019s a lot more going on,\u201d Oselinsky said. \u201cThe same workout can feel energizing for one person and uncomfortable for another.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a subset of people get an immediate \u201crunner\u2019s high\u201d in response to intense exercise, not everybody has the same experience, which can set others up for disappointment, said Emily Hemendinger, an assistant professor of psychiatry at CU Anschutz.<\/p>\n

Brains differ in how sensitive they are to rewards, so some people are primed to get more or less enjoyment out of exercise \u2013 though, obviously, factors such as past experiences with exercise matter, she said.<\/p>\n

Exercise does trigger a release of chemicals that give most people at least some sense of pleasure, but it doesn\u2019t generate a tsunami that could drown out a person\u2019s lack of comfort in their body, fear that others are judging them, perfectionism, boredom, physical pain or exhaustion, Hemendinger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like doing drugs, and what that lights up in our brain right away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For most of human history, exercise didn\u2019t exist as a separate activity: We moved because we needed to find food or because we were doing something inherently rewarding, such as dancing, said Marcelo Bigliassi, an assistant professor at Florida International University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, people need to find a motivation for exercise, which isn\u2019t always readily apparent, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t do anything without a reason,\u201d Bigliassi said.<\/p>\n

While the brain releases dopamine, triggering the desire to repeat exercise, it can also get \u201creally creative\u201d in coming up with ways to avoid something uncomfortable, Bigliassi said. To get around that, people need to focus on finding something challenging enough to give them a sense of accomplishment, but not so tough that they give up, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want people to find something they don\u2019t like, exercise at high intensity, probably injure themselves and\u2026 feel like a failure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The data is clear that, over time, exercise improves both mental health and cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, Bigliassi said. But many people give up long before they see those benefits because they set themselves up to fail or aren\u2019t prepared for bumps along the way, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistency is much more important than everything else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

People who believe they\u2019ll be able to accomplish what they\u2019re trying to do report more enjoyment from a workout than those who feel defeated at the start, Oselinsky said. Having support from the people around you also improves the experience, and new exercisers tend to develop more positive feelings as they get better at the activity, she said.<\/p>\n

Of course, we humans aren\u2019t always great at sticking to something we don\u2019t like, even if we know it brings benefits. So a non-exerciser\u2019s best bet is to choose an activity they like or to bundle exercise with something else they enjoy, such as getting outside, spending time with a friend or pet, or listening to music or podcasts, Oselinsky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re trying to force yourself to stick with something you don\u2019t like, it\u2019s going to be harder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

People often feel that they have to go to a gym, but movement throughout the day can be as good as a dedicated exercise session, Oselinsky said. That could look like doing physical labor at work, schlepping toddlers whose motivation to walk is shaky, or tending a backyard garden come spring.<\/p>\n

Federal guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week, with some sort of muscle-strengthening exercise on two days.<\/p>\n

But any movement that someone enjoys is a step in the right direction, whether that means jumping on a trampoline or playing with their dog, Hemendinger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoyful movement\u2019s hard to find, but it\u2019s important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get health news sent straight to your inbox.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The evidence is clear: Exercise has mental health benefits, although studies have come to different conclusions about how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[3832,9045,674,337,9664,97,2558,259,3,6632,2628,141767],"class_list":["post-463365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-exercise","tag-fitness","tag-gyms","tag-health","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mental-health","tag-news","tag-outdoors","tag-things-to-do","tag-university-of-colorado-anschutz-medical-campus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}