Exercise, Endorphins .... and Power Ironing!

Say hello to your new BFF's - endorphins and power ironing


I'm sure you've all heard of endorphins but here's a quick little re-cap.  Endorphins are neurotransmitters, in other words they transmit electrical signals within the nervous system.  They help to reduce our perception of pain and act in a similar way to drugs such as morphine and codeine.  Woo hoo!!

It gets even better because we can give our endorphins a helping hand when it comes to releasing them.  A number of activities can cause their release but for the purpose of today's blog we'll be focusing on exercise.

Endorphins trigger a positive feeling and for those of you who exercise on regular basis, you'll be used to how good you feel afterwards and that 'exercise high'.

Exercise is a vastly under utilised 'prescription' for mental health issues and mild depression and, over these last few months, I've realised how important it's been to me and my fitness clients and groups.  I've had no end of comments from people saying how much exercise has helped them keep sane and happy during lockdown.

It's not just the physical act of exercise either, it's the social side, which is why I felt it was absolutely vital to keep my sessions going through the wonder of Zoom.  My group love seeing each other every week, it sets them up for the day and what's more, they're loving it so much that I've agreed to do an extra session for them during the week!! 

More endorphins = positive outlook = feeling good = happy peeps

Things to bear in mind:
  • Exercise should be fun and something you look forward to, so find an activity you enjoy.
  • Be consistent and do something on a daily basis.  To keep that positive feeling going you need to have exercise planned into your daily routine.  It doesn't have to be a full-on workout everyday, it can be as simple as going for a 10 minute walk.
  • It doesn't have to break the bank.  Not that we can these days anyway, but you don't need to join a fancy gym to get fit.  In fact, that's probably the worst thing you can do for your self-esteem from my experience!
  • Any form of exercise is good for your mental health, you don't have to go out and run for miles to experience the infamous 'runner's high'.  Anyone can get it from doing any kind of exercise.
We're much more susceptible in this current time to feeling down and not our usual selves but exercise is a really easy way to make us feel better.  You'll enjoy even greater benefits if you can get outside too because you'll be getting a hit of vitamin D which also helps lift your mood.

By the way, when I say any form of exercise releases endorphins, it really does.  I've just had a break from writing this blog to do some 'power ironing'.  Yes, you heard, power ironing.  Let me explain ... I first started power ironing whilst watching Jonny Wilkinson play rugby and he still continues to make me power iron as a commentator.  Power ironing is like an ironing HIIT session.  It's fast, furious and with the added frisson of excitement that you might burn yourself whilst watching Jonny.


Unfortunately, there's no rugby and no Jonny for me to enjoy at the moment so instead I'm relying on music to get the endorphins flowing whilst power ironing.  I have a playlist called 'Happy' which is packed full of cheesy dance tunes.  The downside is that it now takes me twice as long to do my ironing because I'm too busy busting out some moves, plus my ironing board doubles up as drums and keyboard!  Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer' ... say no more.


Until next week my peeps ... keep calm and power iron!!

#2020


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