Benefits of exercise
We all are aware that physical activity and looking after our bodies is important to our physical health and can reduce the risk of illness such as diabetes, cancer, or heart disease. Further to this exercise and functional fitness helps things such as bone and muscle strength which allows people to be able to do everyday activities as easily and as long as possible.
Not only does physical activity improve your physical health, it also improves many aspects of your mental health and overall wellbeing. When you partake in physical activity you can reduce stress and improve overall feelings of happiness. When you complete physical activity it can excel the production of endorphins (the happy hormones). This has been nicknamed ‘the runners high’, however you can get the same effect by going on a long walk in nature (don’t worry – no one is going to make you run).
Exercise can also help reduce stress, when you exercise it causes similar effects that stress causes , e.g. shorter breath and an increased heart rate and the fight or flight response. By creating these symptoms in a positive setting you are helping your body to learn how to work through these effects. It also helps improve your cardiovascular health and digestive and immune system which will better prepare your body to protect itself from the harmful effects of stress.
Exercising can produce a ‘meditation in motion’ effect. Often when you are exercising, be that swimming, going on a vigorous walk, playing a game of tennis or lifting weights, you find your mind is solely focused on the exercise rather than the days worries. People often find that exercising helps them to clear their mind and gives them a time in the day where their mind is clear. Once you get into a routine of completing exercise regularly you will find that by practicing ‘meditation in motion’ you are better able to have a clearer, calmer mind in your everyday life.
Exercise can also help to improve your overall mood in many ways. It can help aid better sleep. A lack of good quality sleep is often a contributing factor to low mood and anxiety and depression. The physical effects of exercise often include weight loss or muscle toning and improved strength and ability which can help to improve a person’s confidence. When you improve your confidence, you may find you are more able to socialise, try new things with friends, go to more places where you would have felt to self-conscious to go to previously, and also help you feel better in your appearance.
Getting started
Often people find it difficult to motivate themselves to start their journey of improving their physical health. There are many barriers to starting your exercise journey. Here we will go through the most common barriers, and more importantly – their solutions.
1) Unable to find the time
You could start by making a diary of your day to day activities for a week, then once you have completed this have a look over your diary and try to identify three half hour slots that you could use for physical activity. Modify your exercise to fit into your lifestyle to save more time. For example, you could walk around your office location and go up the stairs on your lunch break, you can do some exercises in the living room whilst the tv adverts are on, or even go for a walk around your block.
A good tip if you are a ‘workaholic’ is to complete work calls whilst taking a walk, scheduling ‘walking meetings’ or even try to get your colleagues to partake in an office fitness challenge together e.g. make it a competition to see how many steps you can get in throughout the day!
2) Your social and support group are also not interested in physical health (or may even be bad influences)
Sit down with your friends and family and tell them about your fitness goals and why they are important to you. You can ask them for their support. You could also get active as a family and hold each other accountable. If you’re family are not ready to start their own fitness journey, they can support in other ways such as encouraging you and supporting you on your own exercise or refraining from offering you bad food and snacks.
If you are looking to find a group of people who are also on their fitness journey look at joining exercise groups such as dance fit classes or even walking groups. Here you will meet likeminded people who will be able to support you and go on your journey with you.
3) Suffering with low energy and fatigue
As discussed before, exercising can improve the quality of your sleep. Therefore, if you haven’t been following an exercise regime for a while then you may find that you haven’t been having good quality sleep (even if you are technically sleeping a lot). This will make you feel more tired throughout the day and less motivated to exercise. On top of a lack of exercise if you’ve been eating an unhealthy diet this can also have an effect on your mood and energy levels and make you feel lethargic. People often face this barrier when starting their exercise journey, however, if you ease yourself in with some low impact easy exercises you will slowly start to notice an improvement within your energy levels. Starting small and low impact exercises include brisk walks, yoga, Pilates, swimming, or cycling. Always remember to set realistic goals. Don’t expect yourself to go from no exercise routine to running marathons in a matter of weeks!
4) Lack of resources e.g. unable to afford a gym or drive to one.
Gyms and fitness classes are not accessible to all due to their price and location. There are a few ways to work around this, firstly you could revaluate your outgoings and see if there’s anything worth swapping around. For example, if you find you get a take away once a week, you could try and cut this down to afford the gym. If this still isn’t the case, there are many exercises you can do
from the comfort of your home. Yet again, walking is the number one suggestion, smart
phones can now track your steps, so spend a day or so monitoring your current daily step count and then try to add 1000 steps to that. Or you can search YouTube for some home workouts, there will be a range of different types of exercise like yoga to HIT and different lengths of workouts – try out a few and see what you like. YouTube and the internet can also be great for those with disabilities, there are videos of chair exercise classes and exercises specific to many different long term illness or conditions.
5) Feeling nervous and uncertain of what to do
If you are wanting to start with the gym but are suffering from ‘gymtimidation’ make sure when you sign up you ask for an induction with one of the gyms personal trainers who will show you how to use all the equipment. Start with a small simple workout on easy-to-use machines, for example, go on the bike, do one or two machines and then finish with some stretches and sit ups. Try and attend at non busy times to work on your confidence and get to know your way around the gym. Or even sign up to some classes. If you are still to nervous to go to the gym, home work outs and working out with friends is another good place to start.
Final note
The most important thing to remember when starting your fitness journey is to avoid comparison. Everyone works out for different reasons and has different body types and fitness goals, remember your reason why. Remember that although weight loss is a good side effect of being more active, more importantly fitness and exercise is important to your mental health and can improve your life in many ways. Not only can a healthy balance of exercise extend your life, but it
can also improve the quality of your life and enable you to do more things for longer. The hardest part of exercise is starting, once you find how you like to exercise and begin to reap the rewards you will find the motivation comes easier. Take your time and go easy on yourself – as discussed in previous blogs – start small. If you want to know more about how to start contact your Health and Wellbeing coach by calling your local surgery and asking for an initial appointment.
Good luck and keep us updated with your progress.
SMART GOALS FOR STARTING YOUR EXCERICSE JOURNEY
- Write a list of the reasons why you want to start your journey. Keep this list and remember your reasons why.
- Do some research on YouTube and at workout DVD’s and see which ones you’d like to try.
- Start by monitoring your steps and challenge yourself to up them by 1000 steps a week – if that’s easy add more steps. 10K steps a day is a recommended for weight loss but anywhere between 4500-6500 is a good and manageable start.
Make sure you subscribe to the EKPCN website to be updated on future blogs.
Written by Josie Hopkins, Social prescriber for The Old School House Surgery (Great Bedwyn) and Burbage Surgery.
Comments