Is exercise good for stress relief?

Recently someone asked me - is it possible to work out too much in a day? The person was a self-described recovering emotional eater, and recently discovered that if she worked out when she was stressed instead of eating, it helped her relive stress.

I think it is a great question, and I was happy to share my thoughts on it.
Exercise definitely relives stress, at least temporarily. Exercise promotes generation of endorphins, which are responsible for a sense of well-being. Plus an intense workout takes your mind off the things that bother you, so there is a meditative effect as well...

But there is a danger in swapping doing one thing to excess for another, as in this case from eating too much to exercising too much! While exercise releases some stress, but it should not be the only way we deal with stress because there is a limit to how much a person can exercise! Over-training has multiple symptoms, none of which a pleasant, and systematic over-training can leads to injuries! I know runners that should not be running because of serious injuries, who cannot stop because it is the only way they relax! They need to run to stay sane! This is extreme, but not as rare as one might think.

The source of stress is in our minds, how we react to outside world, so the best way to handle stress is to train our brains to react to stress better.

Books and books are written about this subject, and depending on how much you read already already and what things you tried I could suggest some. I am currently finding a lot of great answers in Eckhart Tolle's "The power of NOW". But it may not be everybody's cup of tea...

I know, it seems like a lot of work on top of what we already trying to do in our busy lives: work, family, kids activities, exercise and now making our own clean food... Now we have to deal with stress in some new fashion? Yeah...I straggle to incorporate some form of stress management into my routine, but I am totally aware that most of my "falling of the wagon" episodes are due to stress. But I think I am getting better at it. Building physical strength and building character go hand in hand, so to speak, so I am bringing with both!

Hope you are too!