Friday 29 September is World Heart Day.  In honour of this we are going to do a series of posts about why hooping is good for your heart.  There are two ways of thinking about your heart: one is your physical heart and the other is your emotional heart.  We all want to know how to be happy so in this post we are going to look at why hooping is good for your emotional heart, in other words, why hooping is a great tool for happiness.

Here are 5 ways hooping makes you happy:

1. Endorphins

High-intensity exercise releases the body’s feel-good chemicals called endorphins.  A good work-out physiologically makes you feel high.

2. Improved Brain Function

Low-intensity exercise which is sustained over time prompts the release of proteins called neurotrophic or growth factors, which cause nerve cells to grow and make new connections.  The improvement in brain function makes you feel better.  Neuroscientists have noticed that the hippocampus in the brain—the region that helps regulate mood—is smaller in people who are depressed.  Exercise supports nerve cell growth in the hippocampus.

3. Calming Warmth

When we hoop our body temperature rises and this can have a calming effect.

4. Mental Distraction

Focusing on performing movements with your body helps to get you out of your inner mind and into the physical here and now.  It can provide a mental break from worry and anxiety which allows your nervous system to switch from stress to relaxed mode.

5. Confidence Boost

Achieving health goals and learning new skills boosts your confidence.  We feel great when we move forward in expansive energy and do things that benefit us or that we have not been able to do before.
Five great reasons to hoop yourself a daily happiness hit.  In the next post in the series, Why Hooping is Good for Your Heart Part 2, we will focus specifically on another happiness aspect of hooping, social interaction.

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Photo by Rachel Walker on Unsplash