Following on from my Journaling entry there is one more thing that I would strongly urge you to begin this year and that is…..yes, you guessed it: exercising. I’ll bet that is on many people’s new year’s resolution list anyway so what I want to do is give you a little extra incentive.
So, why the big deal about exercise? Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years you probably know something about the physical health benefits so I don’t really want to go too much into that. But what about the psychological benefits of exercising? Well, they may be more significant than you thought:
- According to recent search (also conducted in Australia) regular, aerobics exercise is as effective in combating depression as our best anti-depressant medication! Of course the pharmacological companies are not wild about this finding, which may be why it is not more widely known. So think about it, as effective as our best medication but without the adverse side-effects. In fact, one could argue that the side-effects are positive: looking better, feeling stronger, reduces the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, colon cancer, breast cancer and diabetes, and help insomnia just to name a few.
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- Regular exercise (together with novelty, psychotherapy and attention) has been found to increase neuro-plasticity (that is, adaptive changes in the brain). Now, how amazing is that? So if you have difficulties getting out of bed and off to the gym just remind yourself of this: neuro-plasticity! You’re doing it for your brain! Ironically it is also your brain that will try to sabotage your efforts. Just watch your mind as it is scrambling for excuses: I’ll start tomorrow, I overslept, I can’t start on a Wednesday, my shoulder hurt, I have a long day, I don’t have time etc. Watch it, but don’t let your mind seduce you. You know what’s best for you.
I recently read somewhere (I can’t remember where. Hmmm…maybe too much surfing around on different websites?) someone saying: “I have to go and exercise early in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing”.
I’m a bit like that. Usually by the time I’m fully awake I’m already on the bike listening to Channel V.
So, all together now: neuro-plasticity 🙂