Exercise!
Our bodies do everything for us, from typing to speaking to walking to opening doors. Everything. That is why it is so important to take care of them, so that they are able to take care of us! Our minds tell our bodies what to do, often without our conscious decision, and they trust that our bodies will be able to follow through.
We were designed for extreme amounts of activity, originating back to when we used to spend our days foraging for food and water to stay alive. Now most of us live far more sedentary lifestyles with brain-heavy jobs and we have to take care of our bodies by “exercising” or engaging in physical activity that isn’t necessary for our task needs. Exercises may mimic things our bodies used to do consistently for our survival- engaging muscles we may not use in our office jobs or family lives but still must use in order to prevent deterioration or health conditions. A lot of us pay gym memberships and go workout at places with equipment that keeps our bodies healthy since our jobs don’t fulfill that need for us anymore. Some of us can’t find the time to do this between taking care of our families or being overworked, and so our brains become overburdened while our bodies become underutilized. When we do not fulfill our body’s need to be active through exercise or some other form of physical activity, we suffer psychologically in addition to physically. Physically, we may begin to gain more weight than we need and cause our muscles to deteriorate. Psychologically, we may not receive the endorphins necessary to keep us happy and may not be able to release our stress in a positive way. Higher intensity exercises cause our bodies to release negative stress chemicals and begin creating dopamine and serotonin for us, which we know is crucial. Without this exchange, we are at a greater risk of developing mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety. Without exercise, we may also begin to think negatively of ourselves when our bodies do not look the way we want them to, causing even worse psychological effects.
Think about how you felt when you were at your most physically fit. Probably happy, confident, and healthy, right? But few of us are able to stay like this forever. We end up financially struggling, causing us to have to cut out the gym. We get into a new relationship and end up spending more time with our partner instead of going for a nightly run. We end up working more or having to devote more time to taking care of other priorities, taking away our free time or energy for good exercise. We fall out of shape, and even when we end up with the time, desire, and ability to “get back to where we were”, we find that the time we spent inactive means the road to our previous shape will be very hard to get back to, and we may decide it isn’t worth it anymore. If we are unable to consistently keep up with our exercise routines, we may find that when we go back to doing them we are either incapable or that they cause us more harm than good. If we were to swim ten miles a day, stop for a year, and then start off with a ten-mile swim after that long period of inactivity, we probably wouldn’t make it and might end up so discouraged that we choose to stop entirely.
It is important to set exercise goals for ourselves weekly that are attainable in your current lifestyle. If you are in a busier time in your life, make it a goal to exercise twenty to thirty minutes every other day as strenuously as possible. Exercise programs have been created for this very thing, designed to be quick, effective, and able to be done anywhere and anytime. If you have more free time but your physical health has declined, make it a goal to take walks five times per week, slowly increasing in length, speed, and difficulty. We need our body’s natural endorphins created through activity and exercise to keep ourselves from becoming depressed, anxious, or overstressed. We may see exercising as something to drop when our lives change and we need to free something up, but we will find ourselves unable to healthily handle our lives if we do so. A “runner’s high” is not a myth whatsoever, when we complete intensive exercise, our moods stay elevated for a while afterwards while our bodies end up healthier as well. Exercise is a win-win for our brains and bodies, so put on your shoes and go enjoy the beautiful Spring season!
Kyndal Sims
Birch Psychology
Resources
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389
https://www.builtlean.com/31-reasons-get-in-shape-and-exercise/
https://www.medicinenet.com/fitness_when_theres_no_time_to_exercise/views.htm