This is great advice and works for so many things other than exercise! Break free of the perfectionism//steer clear of black and white thinking. It can really make a difference in how demanding life feels!
This is such a helpful and humane framing of how exercise can fit into our lives in a way to benefits us the most. Thank you! And I'm very glad to hear your daughter is doing better.
I really love this! I had a weird health year with one surgery, one annoyingly chronic injury and one short-term injury, and all set me back in terms of exercise. Phoning it in was seriously the best I could do for many weeks, and it was frustrating. I deeply appreciate this reminder that even a little can go a long way in terms of maintaining habits, and that there are many other benefits to movement (little boosts of energy and mood) besides getting faster, stronger, fitter all the time.
This is exactly the encouragement I needed after being up half the night with a sicky, fevery baby. 🙏 With a baby and a preschooler, I feel like I have to think a lot about managing my energy expenditure on workouts/movement (especially with too little sleep) so I don't crash before I am actually able to rest my body (after bedtime). I have heard that working out and expending energy allegedly boosts the amount of energy you have? I'm sure there's important nuance there, which you excel at giving us. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Yes, I think the rationing out of energy is a huge factor here which I didn't fully explore. It's especially relevant during times when we aren't getting enough sleep, and for folks with chronic illness. So important to make sure your workouts are supporting you and that you aren't spending energy on them that you don't actually have.
That said, yes, exercise can definitely help us feel more energetic! Both in the short term — I'd imagine mostly because of the little endorphin boost we get — and in the long term, because of some other changes at the cellular level and improvements to sleep quality. A good and quick read about it here: https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/does-exercise-really-boost-energy-levels
I'd say the key to that is, again, matching the workout to where you're at — and overall, just easing your way in. If you've been too busy or tired to move and you suddenly way overdo it with a super-intense workout, you're probably going to be a lot more drained than before you worked out. Take it slow and work your way up to higher intensity workouts if and when you feel ready, so your body can adapt to the stress of exercise over time.
I hope your baby feels better soon! I'm so grateful this pneumonia bout seemed relatively minor, although not looking forward to torturing her with the antibiotics for another week!
Anna, I so appreciate your real-world, compassionate message. I would any time, but especially now. I'm sorry your kid has been feeling so bad.
Thank you! She is so so so much better. But the heat continues to be WILD!
This is great advice and works for so many things other than exercise! Break free of the perfectionism//steer clear of black and white thinking. It can really make a difference in how demanding life feels!
This is such a helpful and humane framing of how exercise can fit into our lives in a way to benefits us the most. Thank you! And I'm very glad to hear your daughter is doing better.
I really love this! I had a weird health year with one surgery, one annoyingly chronic injury and one short-term injury, and all set me back in terms of exercise. Phoning it in was seriously the best I could do for many weeks, and it was frustrating. I deeply appreciate this reminder that even a little can go a long way in terms of maintaining habits, and that there are many other benefits to movement (little boosts of energy and mood) besides getting faster, stronger, fitter all the time.
I really needed to read this! Thank you!
Thank you! 🩷
This is exactly the encouragement I needed after being up half the night with a sicky, fevery baby. 🙏 With a baby and a preschooler, I feel like I have to think a lot about managing my energy expenditure on workouts/movement (especially with too little sleep) so I don't crash before I am actually able to rest my body (after bedtime). I have heard that working out and expending energy allegedly boosts the amount of energy you have? I'm sure there's important nuance there, which you excel at giving us. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Yes, I think the rationing out of energy is a huge factor here which I didn't fully explore. It's especially relevant during times when we aren't getting enough sleep, and for folks with chronic illness. So important to make sure your workouts are supporting you and that you aren't spending energy on them that you don't actually have.
That said, yes, exercise can definitely help us feel more energetic! Both in the short term — I'd imagine mostly because of the little endorphin boost we get — and in the long term, because of some other changes at the cellular level and improvements to sleep quality. A good and quick read about it here: https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/does-exercise-really-boost-energy-levels
I'd say the key to that is, again, matching the workout to where you're at — and overall, just easing your way in. If you've been too busy or tired to move and you suddenly way overdo it with a super-intense workout, you're probably going to be a lot more drained than before you worked out. Take it slow and work your way up to higher intensity workouts if and when you feel ready, so your body can adapt to the stress of exercise over time.
I hope your baby feels better soon! I'm so grateful this pneumonia bout seemed relatively minor, although not looking forward to torturing her with the antibiotics for another week!