Note: I'm not a doctor. This article shares my personal experience and my reading of the sources listed below. It is not medical advice. Check health decisions with your doctor.
Some days my head feels like a browser with sixty open tabs. Three of them are playing audio, and I can’t find which. 🫨🫠 A deadline, a family calendar, a news cycle that never calms down, and now an AI that can answer anything instantly and therefore makes every question feel urgent. 🙈
In my last article I wrote about building muscle as a way to take back control. This one is about the other half: keeping a clear head while you do it. 😇
My most reliable tool for that is simple. I sit down on the rower and train. Here is why I think it works, what the research does and doesn’t say, and how I would start rowing (again).
What the research says (and what it doesn’t)
Let’s start with the part I can source.
- A large umbrella review of 97 reviews and 1,039 trials (Singh et al., 2023, British Journal of Sports Medicine) found that physical activity reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress compared with usual care. The median effects were moderate: -0.43 for depression, -0.42 for anxiety and -0.60 for distress. Higher intensity looked better, and shorter programmes (up to about 12 weeks) showed the largest effects.
- A US survey of 1.2 million adults (Chekroud et al., 2018, Lancet Psychiatry) found that people who exercised reported about 43% fewer days of poor mental health per month than comparable people who did not. This is a cross-sectional study, so it shows an association, not cause and effect.
The limits of the studies: many of them are small and of mixed quality, and they cover exercise in general, not rowing. I’m not aware of research that shows rowing is better for mental health than other forms of exercise. What I can say, though, is that rowing is a form of exercise that is easy to start, easy to dose and kind to the joints.
Exercise is no replacement for professional help. If you have felt low, anxious or exhausted for weeks, please talk to your doctor or a therapist. Training can be part of the answer, but it shouldn’t be the only one.
Why the rowing machine works for me
This is my experience, not a study result.
It removes decisions. There is one movement, one rhythm and one number to watch. After a day of making lots of small choices, that is a relief.
It is rhythmic and monotone, in the best sense. Catch, drive, release, recover. I have written before about reaching flow while rowing (German). When it works, the tabs in my head close one by one.
It is finite. Twenty minutes on the clock. It starts, it ends, and the work is visibly done. Few things in my day offer that.
It needs my breath. You can’t scroll while you are breathing hard. 😮💨 A rowing session is one of the few places where you can be offline without a digital detox plan. 😅🤙🏼
Three sessions for a clear head
Nothing fancy, and all of them fit into the 20-minutes-per-week idea with a little room to grow. Pick the one that fits your day.
| Session | What | When it helps |
|---|---|---|
| The reset | 20 min steady at a conversational pace (stroke rate 18-22) | Mentally full day, late in the evening |
| The shake-out | 5 x 2 min hard, 1 min easy between, about 15 min | Restless, too much energy, stuck in your head |
| The slow start | 10 min easy, then decide whether to continue | Low-motivation days |
The last one is my favourite trick for days when nothing feels possible. The only goal is to sit down and row ten minutes. Most of the time I carry on. When I don’t, I still count it as a win, because I showed up. I’d rather you row irregularly than not at all.
My rules for keeping it clean
- Phone with your favourite music and headphones on.
- Keep an eye on the numbers. Time, pace, heart rate or stroke rate – depending on the session I’m doing. Steady state at 20 spm, switch off your head, row.
- No performance pressure. The point is the clear head, not a new personal best.
- A fixed slot. I attach it to something that already happens, for example after the kids are in bed. A habit that has a place in the day survives the bad weeks.
If you are new to this, the best rowing machine is the one you will actually use, and a good start is easier than you think.
Sanity is a practice, not a state
2026 probably won’t get any quieter. The pace of AI, the news and the calendar is not going to slow down for us. What we can control is a small, repeatable block of time in which nothing is asked of us except to breathe and pull. 😄
That, for me, is what keeping your sanity looks like. 20 minutes on a machine.
So: get rowing 😉🤙🏼
References
- Singh B, Olds T, Curtis R et al. (2023): Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. Br J Sports Med 57:1203-1209. Umbrella review of 97 reviews with 1,039 trials; many included trials are small and heterogeneous. (doi.org)
- Chekroud SR, Gueorguieva R, Zheutlin AB et al. (2018): Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1.2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015. Lancet Psychiatry 5:739-746. Cross-sectional survey, no statement on cause and effect. (doi.org)