I walked my 2 miles today and then did one of the chair stretching videos I got the other day. My neck and shoulders sounded like Rice Krispies as I followed through the routine, which tells me that I need to do that at least once per day. It's an extra 30 minutes, but I feel so much more relaxed and content.
Contentment is one of those things that is so hard for me to find. Just a simple feeling of coziness seems like the last thing I can attain. So discovering a way to generate a feeling of satisfied peace is a big deal! You can BET that I will be doing this same routine of 2 miles followed by stretching, every day. I don't want to work that much, but I want this feeling to happen again, so I'm going to do it.
I've been doing a lot of reading about the effects of physical activity on depression. Now, no amount of working out will ever make me not bipolar, but what it looks like it can do is improve mood and prolong periods of remission. So this is definitely something that would make sense for me to do.
Why have I not known this before? All of this psychological and medical research has been around for quite some time, and common sense has always said that activity is good for the mind. I guess when you are in the throes of a downcycle, you develop tunnel vision and you ignore things, even when they could make your life better. So I very possibly could have been exposed to this information before, but it just didn't click with me. It took reading a lot about it and then personally experiencing it before I was able to relate it to my life.
Part of me dreads doing all that work. I still have the mind-habits of a home-loving snail. I want to just sit and read. But I have to get up and move in order for this to work! I hope that I can change my thinking, so that I either look forward to exercising or it just becomes a natural part of the day.
None of the changes I've been making have become easy yet. It still takes a lot of conscious effort to do everything. But I am doing it, and I am getting there.
Not being bipolar, i can't address the issues of ups and downs of that disorder.
ReplyDeleteHaving gone into the depths of depression more than once, i can say that yes, it seems to cause a tunnel vision that blocks out everything else around you.
Have you read about the stages of change? Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance? The information has to be in the brain, i think, and go through precontemplation and contemplation so we can get to where you are now.
You will get there, and even if exercise doesn't become something you absolutely love, it can become such a habit that you cannot do without it.
Congrats on working up to two miles and getting that great feeling from it.