Did you know that, after sleep, regular physical activity is the most significant contribution that you can make to the long term health of your brain? And if you suffer from poor sleep - exercise can help with that too. It’s easy to make excuses but there are so many options available no matter how busy your schedule. The longer days and beautiful countryside might be all you need to reach for your trainers, you might prefer going out to the gym or the convenience of an online workout.
It’s easy to put exercise at the bottom of your ‘to-do list’ but it’s super important to prioritise self-care in your daily routine and make time to look after yourself. Any kind of physical activity counts whether it’s high intensity and aerobic, resistance training, walking the dog or doing the housework.
Try changing every ‘should’ to a ‘could’. You could use the stairs instead of the escalator, park at the far end of the supermarket car park, mow the lawn, weed the flower beds, turn on the tunes and dance around your kitchen. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can’’ (Arthur Ashe).
Why? Because the immediate rewards of regular exercise, apart from burning calories, include combatting stress to strengthen your immune system as well as increased motivation, focus and memory. You produce dopamine and serotonin which elevate your feelings of mental and emotional wellbeing thereby reducing the risk of developing depression and anxiety. And research has shown that regular movement can even help you invest in your future by reducing the risk of dementia and increasing brain volume to delay and reverse brain ageing.
Ready, steady, go!
Katherine.
BA (Hons), DipSFH, Reg AfSFH, CNHC, NCP
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