 I know, it sounds so simple right, so how exactly does that work? Well for a start the repetitive motion of physical movement can help to take your mind off your stresses by shifting your focus away from the whirl of thoughts bouncing around in your head, to performing physical movement with your body. The clarity of focusing on one thing at a time as opposed to having your brain spinning off in many different directions can have a calming effect on the brain and increase your feeling of energy for the task at hand.
We know that exercise is good for the body, but the really cool and exciting thing is that it’s good for our brains too. There are a whole bunch of nerve connections in the brain, so it’s not surprising that when your brain is stressed your body will feel stressed too. The good news is that once you start exercising, the increased blood flow to the brain once your heart starts pumping a little more, increases your production of endorphins. What exactly are endorphins, you may ask? Endorphins are such cool little fella’s, they are the happy chemical or feel good neurotransmitters that give you that sense of euphoria after exercise, and will frequently give you a more positive and energised outlook on life. Endorphins can also help to improve the quality of your sleep, and as a bonus, can also help boost your confidence levels too. Exercise also seems to affect other chemicals in your brain, serotonin and dopamine, which can affect your mood and thinking. And my favourite part is that there are yet other chemicals in the brain that when stimulated by exercise, boost memory and your ability to learn. They can also help new brain cells grow and develop which is increasingly important as we age. No-one likes the thought of getting older and forgetful so getting off your arse now and making it a regular habit will not just benefit you right now, but will continue to help you live a healthier, happier life. Who doesn’t want that? I think most of us know generally that the things we dislike or struggle to get done are usually the things we need to do most and tend to procrastinate over. I hear so often that people can’t get work out because they’re ‘too stressed’ or ‘too tired’ or ‘just don’t have time, I’ve so much to do’. The sad reality is that if you feel like using any one of those excuses right now, the absolutely best and I mean BEST thing you can do for yourself is to schedule some time in your calendar (just like you would with any other appointment) and prioritise yourself and your health. It may sound like a bit of a catch 22, but finding the time to schedule in some exercise may well help you to feel less stressed, have more energy and generally make you more productive in your day. In fact numerous studies have proven it. Need some help? Then start by picking up the phone and giving me a call on 021987399 or check out www.sarefitness.co.nz for more info. Come on, you can do it. A year from now you’ll wish you’d started today! Be fitter, be stronger and feel awesome people! Sare
0 Comments
 Doing some meal prep for the week yesterday I realised that people tend to think that personal trainers have their shit together at all times and live some sort of saintly lifestyle. Haha, yeah right. If only they’d seen me Saturday swigging wine and shovelling peanuts into my mouth like there was about to be a world shortage.
Now I’m sure there are plenty of those instagram trainers who have nothing else in their life to worry about besides how they look, and good on them I totally admire their dedication. Personally though I’ve come to realise that I have a lot of things to accomplish each and every day and sometimes that means I have to not sweat the small stuff, which is kinda hard if you’re at all control freaky like me. Lately my nutrition has been far from perfect and I’ve been in somewhat of a self sabotaging mood, (despite having a certificate in nutrition and very much knowing better) which I’ve lived with for a few months as it hasn’t quite made it to my list of priorities. Now I think about it though, lately I’ve been dealing with having to move house twice in the last 5 months, a partner who is away for work for long periods and the never ending need to expand on my parenting skills, never mind work. It’s no small wonder nutrition hasn’t been at the top of my list of things to address. I’m a pretty private person and don’t believe in airing my personal life all over social media for attention, but I feel I should share this if it helps even one solitary person who is feeling like they don’t completely have all their shit together and giving themselves a hard time about it. It’s o - fucking - k to not be in control of everything, all the time. There I’ve said it! And I’ve gotta tell you, that kinda sucks if you’re used to being in control all the time. Sometimes you just have to let go a little. Now however the sun is out and I’m feeling motivated and have the time and energy to deal with it. I’m now seeing a recommended professional for some help and accountability. Everyone struggles with something, and getting help is a good thing. If I’m honest I’m really excited about getting back on track and already feeling better in so many ways. As it’s the end of the year and everyone’s feeling tired and waiting on summer holidays, the general consensus is that most people are needing a helping hand somewhere. If your fitness has lapsed lately or you just need a little motivation to shape up for summer then let me help you get back on track. Book your free consultation and let’s make it happen. I’m quite fascinated at the moment with just how amazing the human body is. We’re each a self healing organism made of trillions of tiny cells, and for the most part very adept at self limiting our stress responses. And all this occurs without us having to think about it at all. Cool or what?
Perhaps though we should be thinking about what we demand of ourselves a little more. When we’re constantly pushing ourselves to do more, accomplish more, be more, blah blah blah. When we don’t recognise the warning signs, and keep pushing through, eventually our bodies become unable to moderate our fight or flight response. If we don’t know what to look out for, this is where we can get in all sorts of trouble with our health. We all accumulate that low level stress, you know the daily stuff like making sure the kids get to school on time / eat properly / go to bed on time / help out around the house. Then you need to juggle clients, emails, reports, your boss, make sure the bills get paid on time, take the car for a service and on and on….. So it’s no big deal right? The thing is, if we don’t address this constant build up of stress it can build up and kick us in the arse. It’s taken me a long time to work out what my tells are when things are starting to get too much. For a start I become very reliant on energy drinks, then I tend to become quite withdrawn, more susceptible to weight gain and just generally not giving a fuck. These days though I know the best way to combat this is by grabbing my headphones and getting outside, preferably to the beach for a good dose of fresh air. Without fail I always feel better for moving, clearing my head and knowing that I got off my ass, especially on those days when I’d really rather just binge watch Netflix. Now without trying to sound like a totally negative Nancy, stress has been proven to contribute to: Allergies Alopecia Anxiety Cardiovascular Disease Depression Diabetes Digestive Problems Headaches Heart Disease Hypertension IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) Memory and Concentration Impairment Miscarriage Muscle and joint pain Strokes Suicide Ulcers Weight Gain I think we can all agree that the above list is definitely not a place we want to go in a hurry. So basically it pays to be aware of negative changes of any kind. Obviously we all have bad days so there’s no need panic and stress yourself further over one less than average day at work. If however you find yourself having several bad days or bad weeks in a row, it’s time to take control and figure out a solution to minimise your load. With this in mind then, it’s massively important that you learn to recognise your own signs of stress. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your body will react the same as your friend, partner or co-worker. Stress will quite often target the weakest part of our physiology or character, for example if you are prone to headaches you’ll most likely find you get a lot more than usual. You may notice behavioural, cognitive, emotional, physical or changes, or a combination of many. If you’re not too sure how to figure out your own signs of stress, see if any of these ring a bell for you. Behavioural *Unmotivated *Sleeping too much or too little *Loss of humour *Increased dependency on alcohol, caffeine and/or cigarettes *Increased feeling of wanting isolation from others Cognitive *Indecision *Poor memory *Lack of concentration *Self doubt *Unable to complete tasks Emotional *Feeling overwhelmed *Anxiety *Fatalistic Thinking *Frustration *Moodiness Physical *High Blood Pressure *Skin Complaints *Rapid Heartbeat *More frequent Aches and Pains *Frequent Colds The longer we overexpose ourselves to stress hormones the more likely they will be to disrupt almost all our body's processes. This is pretty mind-blowing to me as I believe most of us seriously underestimate how much this can effect us. We’ve become so accustomed to hearing we should push on through, work hard-play hard, no pain gain, she’ll be right, that we aren’t generally too good at recognising our own warning signs. Worse still is when we do notice, perceive them as some sort of weakness, give ourselves a good talking to of suck it up buttercup and carry on regardless. To wrap up this up for today, I just ask that you become a little more mindful of your feelings and behaviours, especially when life isn’t going to plan. Be kind to yourself and to others and remember that exercise really is the best medicine. Hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two from reading this quick blog. If you you’d like to learn more, please fill out an application form from my website and I will be in touch. If you enjoyed this blog, that’s awesome, feel free to share it and watch out for the next instalment about how exercise helps to manage stress. |
The BlogRead up on tips, tricks, rants and Lulu Lemon pants. 
CategoriesArchives
December 2017
|
