I read an article recently supporting strength training reducing anxiety for young adults. Such a good read and so important to spread the word on this as we see our precious youth experiencing record high anxiety levels. But let’s be honest. Any regular exercise regime for any age group where you are working hard enough to feel your muscles working, your breathing pattern deepen, and your core body temperature rise for a minimum 30 minutes per day (or if you are new to exercise, try 10 minutes a day to start) has proven to reduce anxiety, increase serotonin levels, reduce blood pressure and cortisol levels, reduce body fat, increase lean body mass and generally makes the sun come out regardless of what the weather is doing.
Letson is a wellness coach, personal trainer and owner of Positively Fit. By Tobyn Ross
Sometimes I grow weary of the health industry’s obsession with crediting one particular exercise regime, nutrition plan, or supplement to solve our wellness challenges. It would be wonderful if life was that simple, but it never is. Maybe it’s more effective to choose an array of options to stock our wellness pantry so we have a range of choices that suit our lifestyle and support our happiness. Mixing and matching, experimenting with different combinations will help us find the best fit for whatever wellness routine we wish to change. There are no hard and fast rules. The trick (and admittedly the hardest part) is listening to how all the different options feel when we try them on, and then make a realistic choice from there. It’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae, the landslide of trends and the impossible barrage of wellness marketing so that we end up doing nothing, scrolling through the sea of images, peering at other people’s apparent successes while we remain immobilized. Like deer in the headlights. Or we try something that doesn’t actually fit our lifestyle but we do it anyway because everybody else is doing it and we want to look like the hot babe demonstrating said routine on our product packaging.
Sometimes I think we need to simply step back from our daily routine and grab some perspective, clear our lifestyle desk and chip away at one wellness thing at a time. Work on getting a better sleep, fit in any kind of exercise (because hey, something is so much better than nothing), add some fresh vegetables, maybe journal the new habits. See how change feels.
What truly, madly, deeply works is less sexy and hard to market. It’s the slow burn of good habit building: one thing at a time, find the right fit, listen to your body, build a support team and (hardest of all) be patient with yourself. Honestly, I’m terrible at the patient part. It’s really hard. But it really works. It’s the tiny, regular, good habit grooves that win us over every time if we create the space and time for it to happen.
I know — not earth shattering — and yes, a little ho-hum. But if that’s the difference between success or not, I’ll go with ho-hum any day. Because success to me is earth shatteringly joyful. Shake my booty kind of happy. And it makes my sun come out despite the darkness of this COVID-19 winter.
Mary Letson is a wellness coach and personal trainer and owner of Positively Fit.
