One of the biggest excuses I hear for not exercising is “I have a lot of stress in my life right now.” Most people experience stress in life. Situations affect everyone differently and stress can occur from financial pressures, family matters, going to work, or feeling fat.
Does this sound like you? If so, listen up! Exercise is the most important thing you can do to combat stress. With so much evidence about stress damaging health, it’s time for you to start doing something about it. If not, your stress can lead to increasing risk of heart problems, weaken your immune system, raise your blood pressure, raise cholesterol and much more.
When you incorporate regular exercise into your life, you enjoy the benefits of:
- Relaxing tense muscles
- Sleep better
- Endorphin high. When natural chemicals are released in your body, they give you a sense of well being.
- Improves blood flow to your brain
- Lose weight and feel better
These are just a few benefits of exercise!
Also, when you exercise, you take your mind off the problem at hand and instead, focus on the activity. This helps relax your mind and lower anxiety.
There are many ways to get started with exercise. Whichever way you choose, it’s important that you incorporate fitness into your daily lifestyle and make it a habit.
Here are 5 ways to incorporate exercise into your life:
- Walk. It doesn’t cost anything but time and it’s time well spent!
- Take a yoga class. Stretching your muscles can really relieve muscle tension that comes from stress.
- Start an at-home workout program. Right in the convenience of your home, you can workout at any time.
- Go for a hike.
- Grab a friend and take a dance class. You’ll have so much fun you won’t even know you are actually working out.
Once you start incorporating fitness into your daily routine, you may actually look forward to it because of how great you’ll feel!