It makes sense and is more efficient to schedule exercise into your busy week - along with the stress reduction, you will gain strength and become more fit, so your health will benefit doubly. Photo / 123rf
It makes sense and is more efficient to schedule exercise into your busy week - along with the stress reduction, you will gain strength and become more fit, so your health will benefit doubly. Photo / 123rf
OPINION
Is your day so crazy that you are in constant motion, pulled in many directions at once, eating on the run, and barely have time to stop and connect with anyone, least of all yourself?
Busyness is a virtue in our culture and we admire people who are ableto handle heavy workloads, and the ability to get more done in less time is one of today’s most esteemed values.
Too much doing, going, working and giving can take a toll on us, physically and emotionally. In seeking to be of service to others, we can neglect our own needs and run out of the inner resources from which we draw strength and energy. Many of the things we are so busy doing are not the ones that we really want to be focusing on or the things that are most important to us, and this causes us anxiety and stress.
Medical books note anywhere from 50 to 80 per cent of all diseases have stress-related origins. When people get busy, they tend to cut corners on the big three, exercise, healthy eating and sleep, and if this goes on too long, you may find yourself with serious health issues, along with being unfit and/or overweight.
Over-worked and under-rested people need time out to tap into nurturing self-care to become better jugglers and to stave off stress-related illness. To effectively manage stress, you need to become a better caregiver for yourself as extra demands are placed on your body.
Most people know of the importance of exercise as a means of increased strength, fitness and weight loss, but exercise can play a major role in the reduction of stress. Exercise decreases cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’, and increases feel-good endorphins. These calming chemicals induce a feeling of wellbeing and relaxation and help the body mend and mitigate some of the harmful effects of stress.
Are there things cluttering up your life that are not really important? Could you spend a little less time on the internet or watching TV? Could you delegate some tasks to free up some time? Photo / 123rf
Proper exercise also resets the anxiety/panic/stress button so it is harder to trigger and centres the mind and body, providing a lasting effect throughout the day. It makes sense and is more efficient to schedule exercise into your busy week rather than to lose entire days or weeks of work to stress burnout or illness. Along with the stress reduction, you will gain strength and become more fit, so your health will benefit doubly.
The quickest and most result-producing exercise is a strength training program. A couple of 30-minute sessions per week can tone and firm up your body, speeding up your metabolism’s ability to burn off any excess body fat, making you feel great and countering stress issues.
Once you have acknowledged that you need to make health and fitness a priority, it is time to look into how you can create space in your life to fit it in. Are there things cluttering up your life that are not really important? Could you spend a little less time on the internet or watching TV? Could you delegate some tasks to free up some time?
Until you push your health and fitness up high enough on your priority list, you will always find other things that get in the way. When you have fully accepted its importance in your life, you can then set about making time, as this is the key - time is not something that is just found!
A proper exercise programme will not take away your precious time, it will give you more time by increasing your strength, vitality and energy levels so you can achieve more and be more productive throughout the rest of your day. Once you get started and experience the many benefits, you will wonder how you coped without it.
