The healing power of movement

Many experts have openly stated that exercise is a natural antidepressant. I could point you to hundreds, even thousands of studies that have explored the therapeutic benefits of movement on our health (both mental and physical). 

What you’ll notice is that in this blog, I use the word ‘movement’ instead of exercise - I personally feel like movement is more inclusive. Not everyone has the opportunity or ability to do conventional exercise for many reasons, and we should also keep in mind that exercise will look different to everyone. So say goodbye to exercise meaning only the gym and hello to so many other ways for us to move our bodies and enjoy the benefits of movement.

Here are some tips on how to incorporate more movement into your day:

Schedule an activity (like a gym session or dance class) as many times a week that suits your schedule and lifestyle - and stick to it. Work out what your barriers are for sticking to the schedule (for example, kids, work, money etc.) and think about ways that you can overcome those barriers to ensure the best success of you keeping to your commitment. 

Find simple ways to move throughout the day - for example, going for a walk during your lunch break or doing a 15 min yoga/stretch session to break up studying. This is a great option because I know that dedicating an hour at the start or end of each day may not be accessible for everyone. I get that many of us are balancing work and/or study, with self-care, cooking and cleaning, travelling, socialising, and even parenting (a fulltime job on its own!). So if we break our movement up throughout the day it hopefully won’t feel so overwhelming.

Schedule in 2-5 minute breaks every hour to move your body - that could be walking, star jumps, shaking out your body, squats, or even popping your favourite song on and having a quick boogie. I suggest you set a timer or reminder on your phone so that it doesn’t get lost amidst the busyness of your day.

If this is new to you, or you know that you’re a bit flakey when it comes to movement, enlist an accountability buddy! This is a support person that either gets involved with you, or just checks in to keep you accountable. The important thing is to be flexible with this - gym might not be your thing, and that’s okay! If you try a t-shirt on and it doesn’t fit right, you don’t give up on buying clothes, you find another item of clothing that suits you better! Exactly the same thing here with exercise and movement. 

This isn’t a one size fits all approach, so it may take some time to find the type of movement that suits you. How do you fit movement into your weekly routine?