credit: sean dreilinger

Some of the benefits of exercise are:

• It helps to maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints
• Increased ability to perform physical work
• Increased range of motion or flexibility of joints;
• Improved symptoms of anxiety and depression
• Improved sense of well being;
• Increased muscular strength;
• Improved sleep patterns and levels of anxiety.
• Reduces the risk of dying from coronary heart disease and of developing high blood pressure, colon cancer and diabetes.
• Helps control weight, develop lean muscle and reduce body fat.

I haven’t met anyone yet that doesn’t want their body to look good!

The problem is fitting time and motivation for exercise into busy lives.  It’s much easier to announce “I’m getting fit this summer” than it is to actually go through with that statement and get your body looking good.

How do I get started: Exercise Tips for the Absolute Beginner

First of all you have to want to get things going.  Nothing will happen if you sit around waiting for it!

Nothing will happen if you go for a jog today, then sit around for the next two weeks thinking about getting fit…

The key is to commit yourself into a routine and lifestyle that you will be able to follow through with – change your mindset to focus on the benefits of exercise, and just get started! – These are the first steps for your success.

credit: craigmdennis

Here are some links to get started with exercise:
How to start walking for exercise
10 Benefits of Exercise, and How to Start Doing It
The couch to 5k running plan
How to Go From Sedentary to Running in Five Steps

How to persist with exercise, and make it a habit

From WebMD:

1. Do a variety of activities you enjoy. Remember – there’s no rule that says you have to go to a gym or buy equipment.  Having a variety of activities — weight lifting, walking, running, tennis, cycling, aerobics classes — will ensure that you can do something regardless of the weather or time of day.

2. Commit to another person. The social aspect of exercise is important, and can help you stick with it – people will often feel like missing a day or two here and there, but will often be more reluctant to let a partner down.

3. Make exercise a priority. It has to be a non-negotiable – just get out and do it before you can talk yourself out of it.  There’s another advantage to making exercise non-negotiable – friends and family members learn that it’s part of your identity, and give up saying things like, “Why don’t you take it easy today?”

4. Exercise first thing in the morning. Experts agree that a morning schedule is best. If you go to a gym, it should be located between your home and work. “Exercise, take a shower, and you’re energized for the day.”

5. Or, exercise on your way home from work. The next best thing to exercising first thing in the morning is to do it on your way home from work.

6. Exercise even when you’re “too tired.” Chances are, you’ll feel better after exercising -It energizes us.  You breathe deeply, and your body makes better use of the oxygen exchange. You’ll get an exercise-induced euphoria during the activity and for some time after.

7. Log your activity. Write down the things that are important to you. It could be how much time you exercise each day, how many steps you walked, how far you ran or cycled, what you weighed, etc.

8. Be aware of all the indicators of progress. It’s great when your clothes fit better and you can lift heavier weights or work out longer without getting exhausted.

But there are many other progress indicators, such as:

credit: QuietDangst

• Getting a good night’s sleep.
• Thinking more clearly.
• Having more energy.
• Realising your muscles aren’t screaming after you’ve helped a friend move furniture.
• Seeing your resting heart rate drop over time.
• Hearing your doctor congratulate you on improved cholesterol, blood pressure, bone density, triglycerides, and blood sugars.

9. Walk with a pedometer (or a dog). If you enjoy walking and haven’t exercised for awhile, 10 minutes three times a day will give you 30 minutes.  Try using a pedometer, and gradually working up to 10,000 steps a day.  Find out what your daily average is, and, the next week, strive to walk 300 extra steps each day – increase your steps each week.

10. Reward yourself. Experts say that making behavior changes is hard, and rewards motivate. So decide on a goal and a reward, and work toward it. You might buy yourself a video you’ve wanted after you stick to your fitness plan for one month, or buy new walking shoes when you achieve 5,000 steps a day. Do whatever works for you.

Related posts:

1. 5 Quick ways to improve your health
2. Feel fresh in the morning!
3. Is sleep that important?
4. The value of time

After working well into the night for several days in succession, followed by a return to morning work, I’m now well and truly in a pattern of poor sleep habits. Returning to a normal routine is not an easy thing to do, and I’ve often wondered about the effects it has on my body.

credit: guan_wang

In my current situation, my lack of sleep is partly self-inflicted: I choose to work in my profession after all! The structure of hospitals and shift work is also partly to blame – how to you keep a hospital staffed 24 hours a day and be considerate to the sleep needs of staff??

Regardless… I’ve struggled with maintaining good sleep patterns for many years. Sometimes I’m at work feeling half dead on my feet with eyes bulging out, and other times (like right now) I’m at home and should be sleeping, but instead feel wide awake! I have been addressing this issue, however (see below!), and am pleased to report I have had some success with repairing old habits & sleep patterns!

Is sleep really that important?

When I hit a stage with work etc. where I’ve been severely lacking in sleep, I have found that looking at reasons why sleep is so important can be a good incentive to help me stay on track and force myself to get more sleep! Knowing about the positive effects it has on the body has helped me to make better choices with my sleep patterns.

From the National Heart, Lung and Blood institute (and what I’ve suspected all along!):

Inadequate sleep can cause decreases in:
- Performance
- Concentration
- Reaction Times
- Consolidation of Information Learning

credit: Mr. Wright

How to get more sleep:

According to leading sleep researchers, some of the best techniques to combat common sleep problems are:

• Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule
• Don’t drink or eat caffeine 4 – 6 hours before bed, minimize through the day
• Don’t smoke, especially near bedtime or if you awake in the night
• Avoid alcohol and heavy meals before sleep
• Get regular exercise
• Minimize noise, light and excessive hot and cold temperatures where you sleep
• Develop a regular bed time and go to bed at the same time each night
• Try and wake up without an alarm clock
• Attempt to go to bed earlier every night for certain period; this will ensure that you’re getting enough sleep

Things I’ve tried recently that have really helped with my sleep patterns are reducing my caffeine and alcohol intake, exercising more and sleeping in a darker room. Things that haven’t helped my sleep patterns are: SHIFT WORK! Fortunately, netWellness have provided the following:

Sleep tips for shift workers:

- Obtain adequate hours of sleep. Shift workers usually obtain less sleep than day workers, but they need to make sleep a priority.

- If it’s impossible to get the generally recommended seven to eight consecutive hours of sleep, it’s better to take a nap prior to going to work than to skip sleep altogether.

- Maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Ask friends and family to avoid phone calls and visits during regularly scheduled sleep hours.

- Keep the bedroom quiet, comfortable and as dark as possible; light can affect sleep and make it less refreshing.

credit: Cheo70

- Keep the work environment as bright as possible; this will promote alertness and help the body adjust to the shift work schedule. However, avoid bright light on the way home from work; even consider wearing sunglasses on the drive home.

- Consider a brief planned nap during the shift, if possible. These timed naps should last only 10 to 20 minutes, as longer naps may cause a prolonged groggy feeling after awakening.

- If sleep or job alertness problems are persistent and severe, visit a primary care provider or a sleep specialist for an evaluation of an underlying sleep disorder that complicates the effects of shift work.

- In very severe cases, some health care providers consider the temporary use of a short-acting sleeping pill, or a wake-promoting medication. In general you should avoid over-the-counter medicines because many contain long-acting substances that can cause drowsiness to persist during work hours.

What works for you?

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1. Feel fresh in the morning!
2. Exercise! How to begin
3. 5 Quick ways to improve your health
4. Career paths vs happiness: which road are you on?

This has become a bit of a problem by the time the morning rolls around – I’ve actually had mornings where I’ve hit ‘snooze’ 5…6….7 times because it’s been too hard to get up.

credit: Impala74

Obviously it’s not so bad if there’s nothing I need to get up for on that particular day, but if I’m working or have some other early morning commitment, it can be a real drag! People end up coming up to me at work with such helpful comments such as “gee, you look horrible” or “are you ok? your eyes are bleeding!”.

So I started a little trend where I would tell myself “get into bed at a decent hour”… or at least around midnight instead of 1, 2, 3am (on days where I needed to get up the next day). But most times I fall into the lure of the free night off! Quiet house… interesting article… playing a game… and its 2:30am again. Feels sooooo good (not) when the alarm goes off at 0550hrs, let me tell you!

So I’ve tried some of the recommended tips around the place for feeling fresh in the morning, or ways to make it easier on yourself. Here are some of the ones that have helped:

1. Get more sleep – as I mentioned before, I’ve found this difficult to do in the past. Forcing myself to get ready for bed & finish up several hours earlier than I was used to doing has really helped though. There are lots of documented benefits from getting enough sleep such as reducing stress, improving concentration and ‘repairing’ your body.
2. Shower before bed – sure, most people probably do this… but I’m a real ‘morning shower’ type of person – encorporating a ‘wind down’ period at night has helped me to feel more relaxed and ready for bed.

credit: aliciagriffin
3. Don’t drink coffee or tea 4-6hours before bed. I realise tea does not have a lot of caffeine in it, however I find myself awake for hours and hours if I have tea right before bed, or coffee within a few hours of bed time. I’m a real coffee fanatic too, and drink 5 or 6 double shot espresso’s most days. So it’s a real sacrifice not to have an evening coffee! But it sure helps in the morning…
4. Give yourself more time in the morning - I’ve been guilty in the past of allowing 12 minutes of preparation time for work – shower, dress, coffee, pack lunch, grab keys – 12 minutes. This massive rush leads to a few issues: no time for food, stress levels are higher, and you look terrible . Allowing 1hour of prep time gives you time to relax, eat some food, check the news online and enjoy your morning coffee. I have found this to be a great help in terms of being ready to attack the day! I’m calmer, feel better and look much neater than I otherwise would when using this tip.
5. Personal hygiene – Shower! shave! wax / shampoo / groom regularly. Take the time to make yourself look, feel and smell nice – it will make you feel better as well as the people who have to look at you or be around you all day!
6. Reduce alcohol intake – there’s a fine line between a ‘glass of wine before bed’ and ‘just enough to get tipsy’ before bed, or even ‘just enough so I’m staggering!’
   
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   How much you drink can have a real impact on you in the morning for obvious reasons. Reducing alcohol intake can help you feel fresh in the morning – if you’re a heavy drinker, make some nights alcohol free. Others, stop short after 1-2 glasses max.

7. Eat well! A healthy breakfast can help improve your overall health, improve your concentration and reaction time, reduce fatigue and sleepiness throughout the morning and improve your overall alertness. In short, you’ll feel better! You’re also less likely to snack throughout the day.

Go ahead and try a couple of these things out – you might just find yourself feeling fresher in the morning!

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1. Is sleep that important?
2. Exercise! How to begin
3. Alcohol caused this!
4. 5 Quick ways to improve your health