Do you wake up feeling tired most mornings even if you’ve gotten seven or eight hours of sleep? Do you hit the wall around three in the afternoon like clockwork? So fatigued you stumble your way into the break room for another cup of coffee and a “should I get a snickers or a bag of chips question”?
Exercising Doesn’t Make You Tired but Directly Creates Energy in the Body
Research shows moderate exercise like a fifteen or thirty minute walk is the most effective at fighting the feeling of fatigue as compared to say an hour long run on the treadmill.
Dr. Therese Pasqualoni, a Behavioral Therapist and Personal Trainer says, “You should always aim to exercise in your low to moderate heart range when exercising for energy. This will prevent you from depleting your body and help you to avoid feeling fatigue.
Exercise Boosts Energy and Fights Fatigue
A study published in the Psychological Bulletin involving more than 6800 people concluded that, “Sedentary people who completed a regular exercise program improved fatigue compared to those who did not exercise”.
Researchers say that each group studied from healthy adults to cancer patients as well as those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease benefited from low to moderate exercise.
How to Start and What to Do
- Get a green light from your doctor or healthcare practitioner especially if you have serious health issues or if you’re over 40.
- Once that’s done you want to invest in a pair of decent to good walking shoes. Shoes which support the activity of walking makes the experience more enjoyable and can also help keep soreness at bay especially if exercise is new to you.
- Start slow – not only in your walking pace but also in the days of the week that you walk. Aim for three days a week with the goal of moving up to five.
- Warm up. Begin your walk with an easy, comfortable pace for the first five minutes. After your warm up you can increase your pace working up to 3 or 4 miles an hour as your long term goal. Your breathing should pick up but you should still be able to carry on a conversation.
- If you’re completely new to exercise start with 10 to 15 minutes three times a week.
- Add 2 minutes each week to your walk. If you can’t walk outside because of weather or for whatever reason you can buy an indoor walking video or use a free indoor walking video on Youtube.
- After your walk is completed cool down by slowing your pace and do a few easy calf stretches and side waist stretches.
- Enjoy. Remember this should be fun. This is not a race but a process. Enjoy the air, the singing birds, the colors of the trees around you, and most of all yourself.
Happy walking..until next time,
Blessings
