So many people hate the word “exercise” and hate doing it even more. I have a theory that if people reframed a few things they would learn to love exercise. Exercise is exponential for making your feel better. In fact, exercise is the first suggestion I give to my depressed and anxious clients.
Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural mood elavators and painkillers.
Did you know that adding 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day can:
- Improve your mood & mental functioning, and reduce stress.
- Lower your risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.
- Reduce your risk for cancer, especially colon and breast cancer.
- Reduce your chances of getting heart disease.
- Help you maintain your independence in your later years.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Improve your sex life.
- Improve your ability to heal from colds
- Help you fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply.
- Cut your risk of depression in half.
- Turn on appetite-stimulating hormone called ghrelin.
- Slow the aging process (Exercise slows cellular death).
- Create an atmosphere for sunlight to lift your mood.
Here are my best tips for helping you put 30 minutes of exercise into your day:
- Workout first thing in the morning. You’ll be less likely to blow it off than you would at the end of the day when you are tired.
- Pair exercise with a pleasurable activity such as meeting up with friends, listening to music or podcasts, or reading a book or watching TV on a treadmill.
- Vault over your negative thoughts. “Thirty minutes from now I’m going to feel amazing!”
- Start: Most people don’t really hate exercise; they had the thought of exercise. Once you start it’s actually enjoyable to feel your body move.
- Forget about finding time. Make the time! We all find time to do the things we deem important.
- Start small and add to your regimen. Walk for 30-minutes. Try adding strength training and stretching two to three times a week. Yoga and stretchy bands are perfect for this.
- Say, “I get to do this,” not, “I have to do this.”
- Reward yourself after you meet goals.
Do you make time for exercise? How do you do this? How do you stay motivated?