When people are faced with health conditions that affect mobility, energy, or motivation
or that result in pain, we commonly respond by moving less
Often people will limit day to day activity and avoid exercise as they feel that it is not in their best interest or that they simply are unable to.
The truth is, when we have pain, are ill, or are struggling with energy,
one of the worst thing we can do is limit our activity.
It is important to find the right amount of movement
and activity which will be good for our body and allow us to live our lives,
without doing too much and setting ourselves backward.
This is helpful for several reasons.
First of all, moving helps to lubricate our joints- “motion is lotion.”
The more we move the easier it is to move.
Movement and activity are also important for keeping our blood flowing,
reducing muscle tension, calming our nerves, improving quality sleep,
optimizing mental health, and benefiting many other systems in our body.
We do not need to run a marathon or walk for 2 hours a day,
but it is important that we work to find out how much movement is good for us
and to work to increase that activity level over time.
To increase your activity level you want to start by increasing your everyday activities first.
For instance, you could use the stairs if you are able to
rather than using an elevator or make a lap around the grocery store before you start shopping to get in some extra steps.
Try to increase your frequency first, the more days we can spend up and moving the better.
Then work to increase the duration, or how long, you spend being active.
Only after you have been able to work up to exercising at least 3 days/ week for at least 20-30 minutes each time
do we typically start to work on increasing the intensity or difficulty level of the activity.
We want to avoid the “boom-bust” or “crash and burn” cycles,
when we overwhelm our system and “pay for it later”.
Instead, we want to set our system up to be challenged but not overwhelmed.
It is normal for us to have some muscle pain or soreness or to feel more fatigued,
especially if we have not worked out or used those muscles for a long time.
Our muscles are not accustom to that activity and they may hurt afterward.
What we want to focus on is whether or not we are able to go on with our normal activity related to day to day tasks.
If we exercise and spend the next day on the couch,
or are forced to cancel plans with a friend, then chances are we did too much.
We do not want to be afraid, however, that any sign of pain or decrease energy means that we damaged ourselves or made our condition worse.
Hurt does not always equal harm.
There is such a thing as “good pain” such as the physical experience after somebody runs a marathon or after you get a massage.
For most people, a certain amount of fatigue is also helpful for instance in aiding with quality sleep.
Another factor that affects how much we move is motivation.
Everyone’s motivation is different.
Find out what is motivating to you and work to use that to keep you going.
We will talk more about ways to stay motivated over time in the Goal Setting Chapter of this video.
Start by setting a goal you can accomplish.
You can start by working up to exercising 3 days week. When you achieve that, then work to get up to 5 days a week.
Start small, even doing 15 minutes can begin to be beneficial.
struggling to find the motivation.
find the body to encourage you and keep you accountable as this will help you reach your goals
Find a buddy to encourage you and keep you accountable as this will help you reach your goals.
Find a way to track your exercises
and activity level on a calendar or a notebook, that can assist you in tracking your accomplishments.
In a few weeks you can look back and see the progress that you have made.
We forget the little things that we have accomplished a few days or weeks ago.
This will help keep you motivated over time.
When we are healthy we often do not think about our day to day activity as exercise.
When our health changes and suddenly we have more difficulty moving around
we are in pain, or we do not have the strength or energy that we used to,
we realize how much work just goes into completing tasks
such as housework, yard work, and getting out into the community.
For some people, performing these daily tasks becomes their job.
For other people, they continue to work, volunteer, or complete childcare tasks
but then struggle to find balance in their lives as they have a hard time completing household, social, or leisure activities.
Just as we can be strategic about how we move when we exercise,
we can be thoughtful and purposeful about how we move during day to day activity.
This may involve using chores and tasks to build up our strength
or may involve thinking differently about how we are approaching these tasks
so that we can increase how much we are doing without overwhelming our system.
One skill that we can use to accomplish this is pacing.
Most people remember the story of the tortoise and the hare.
When we are engaging in exercise and activity we want to be the tortoise and not the hare,
by that I mean we want to find ways to keep “chipping” away over time- slow and steady wins the race.
Some people are naturally more “go go go”,
when they are having a good day they feel that they have to do everything that they can to make the most of it.
As a result, they overwhelm their body and their nervous system and then they “pay for it” the next day.
They crash.
For other people they have so many responsibilities that they push themselves to the max each day,
only to wake up and do it all over again.
When we get stuck in this “crash and burn” cycle, it is exhausting to our
system and reinforces stress patterns.
Over time, this keeps our nervous system elevated and “on guard” which interferes with stress and health management.
It is much better to try to even this out the best that you can so that you do the same amount of activity day after day after day
instead of doing a lot some days, then avoiding activity the next day because we are “paying for it”.
We want to learn how to move the body while we are calming down the nervous system
pacing out activity over time gives our system a chance to calm down before we expect it to work for us again.
This is important for many health conditions including those that result in fatigue and chronic pain.
So, how do we do this?
This is easier said than done, as it requires you to reexamine how you look at your day to day activities.
The first step is to break down tasks into smaller pieces so that you can take things one step at a time.
Think about the way you go about eating a steak.
If you try to eat the steak all at once it won’t work.
Instead, you cut the steak up until small pieces.
Then you pick one piece at a time, chew it and swallow before going onto the next piece.
If we approach daily tasks this same way,
we can accomplish more without overwhelming our system.
In addition, when we stand at the bottom of the mountain of a large task and look up it seems impossible,
and day after day we will avoid trying to climb it.
If instead we chip away a little at a time and focus on what we can accomplish that day it works much better.
If you are someone who is prone to chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, or stress that gets in the way,
be proactive about taking your breaks.
Don’t wait until your system is exhausted to take a break.
This may mean that you need to set an alarm or use another reminder
such as taking a break every time the TV or radio goes to a commercial.
Maybe you mow half of the lawn and then take a break.
If we wait until our nervous system forces us to stop or our body is too tired to do anymore, this is less helpful
and by then our system has already become overwhelmed.
The breaks we take do not need to be long.
Perhaps it is just pulling back from your computer to stretch our your hands and stand up for 2 minutes.
In fact, a shorter break that is combined with breathing or one of the other active relaxations tools we talked about in one of the previous chapters
can be more effective than a longer break spent just sitting.
These are tricks to help us to pull back especially on our good days so that we don’t over-do it.
It is also important to note that we want to pace out both activity and rest.
We don’t want to be active for too long, but we also do not want to rest for too long without getting up and getting our blood moving.
Activity circuits are another tool we can use to break down daily tasks.
By looking at what the task requires from us- for instance whether we need to use our arms or legs,
do it standing or sitting, if it takes strength or cardio, whether it is physically or mentally challenging.
By looking at the demands of the task, we can alternate or rotate between activities
so that no one system ends up becoming overwhelmed.
Once we understand what the tasks require from us,
we can rotate through these like we would do at the gym if we were doing an exercise circuit.
We can alternate between activities, so that we can remain active for longer and get more things done in a day.
Now take this idea and think about how you could apply it to working in the garage,
returning to tennis, doing your job, or completing any of your personal goals.
In the end, it’s important to remember that our bodies were designed to move,
and it’s important to figure out how to get the most from your body
while managing changing health and aging.
There are many resources available through the VA
in the community, and on the internet that can help you to increase your options for staying active
and finding exercise that is motivating and helpful for you.
If you have questions about how to access these resources, talk with your health care team.