Exercise Benefits Mental Health and Well-Being

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Park It host, Sameera Luthman is on location at the Naperville Park Districts’ beautiful Fort Hill Activity Center. She is joined by Fitness Manager Kristina McGrath to discuss how exercise benefits mental health and well-being. The duo talks about the critical mind/body connection and some of the many rewards of regularly moving your body, including:

  • How exercise helps you connect with others.
  • Why being healthy and active makes you feel good and tends to boost self-esteem.
  • Why “unplugging” both literally and figuratively on a regular basis, is key to overall well-being.

Sameera and Kristina also chat about how getting started on an exercise goal can feel overwhelming, which can cause many people to quit before they’ve barely gotten started, and offer suggestions on how to make it more manageable. Lastly, they cover some additional benefits to engaging in regular exercise (improved sleep, improved mental focus, and improved physical health), which greatly impacts overall happiness and well-being.

Park It Guest

Kristina McGrath, Fitness Manager-Naperville Park District

About the Fort Hill Activity Center

The Fort Hill Activity Center provides a wide array of indoor recreation activities, sports, and fitness and wellness programs. Located at the corner of Quincy Avenue and Fort Hill Drive, the nearly 80,000 square foot facility includes:

  • Over 8,600 sq feet of fitness space
  • 4 multipurpose rooms
  • A Café
  • “The Fort” childcare area & indoor playground
  • A gymnastics room
  • Walk/jog track
  • Wood floor studios
  • Locker rooms
  • Gymnasium that accommodates up to 2 high school-sized basketball courts 4 youth basketball courts, 4 volleyball courts, or 6 courts that can be used for pickleball or badminton.  

Many programs offered at the facility range from drop-in programs to athletic leagues, gymnastics classes, fitness classes, personal training, and many more. Gymnasium and multipurpose room spaces will also be available to rent for meetings, parties, special events, private events, and birthday parties.

About the Naperville Park District

Created in 1966, the Naperville Park District is an independent, municipal agency serving the recreation needs of its residents. The District is one of only 1% of park districts across the country to be nationally accredited through the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA). The Naperville Park District’s mission is to provide recreation and park experiences that promote healthy lives, healthy minds and a healthy community. The District maintains and operates more than 2,400 acres with 136 parks and provides more than 7,500 recreational classes, teams, events and performances annually. Included within the District’s operations are two championship golf courses, a multitude of playgrounds, trails, athletic courts and sports fields, Fort Hill Activity Center, Knoch Knolls Nature Center, two inline skating and skateboarding facilities, the Millennium Carillon, a paddleboat quarry, historic Centennial Beach, and the beautiful Riverwalk.

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