So I've finally began exercising, Its not much but its a start! We've got an exercise bike in our small home-gym area that my parents use mostly. So during my downtime or even if i'm feeling anxious I go sit on the bike and ride for exactly 15 minutes while reading a book/magazine. Today was my third day and I'm already challenging myself. Normally i ride at a steady pace and 15 minutes is enough for me to ride about 4.5 miles, the last 4 minutes I increase the resistance and the last minute i lower the resistance back down and just give it my all. The last two days I've been trying to beat my 4.5 time and today I finally did it, I came close to riding 5.5 Miles in 15 minutes and let me tell you that got my heart pumping, but in a good way!
I felt great afterward and usually give myself a 3-5 minute warm-down. I read somewhere that some people feel anxious when they start to exercise since it gets their heart beating faster but that's normal. After i had my first big anxiety attack anything that got my heart racing gave me that anxious feeling but that has since passed. If you get that feeling I suggest you slowly work your way into your exercise program. Take things light for the first few weeks and once you begin feeling better you can up the pace to where you're comfortable.
The bike is a great start, eventually i want to either get a treadmill or start to go running daily. Its getting cold here so the treadmill idea sounds much better however they are expensive!
Next I want to touch on getting sufficient sleep. I'm all about getting adequate sleep since my job requires a ton of traveling I can't be tired while I'm driving. But I feel getting enough sleep is important especially when you have anxiety. Whats enough sleep? That depends on the you but personally I'm content with 6-8 hours a night and try to stay within that range, nothing more nothing less. Nothing less because anything less than six hours will have me feeling tired in the afternoon. Nothing more because that's like not getting enough, weird huh. Everyone's different so only you know what's good for you.
If you can't sleep at night (some people with anxiety suffer with this) and it has happened to me a few times where anxiety has kept me up and its a pretty bad because you want to sleep but you can't at the same time its really an unpleasant feeling/state of mind. So if you can't sleep there are a few things to look at
Are you over-sleeping?
Are you taking cat-naps/power naps during the day?
Are your daily routines boring or don't require much physical activity?
If you answered yes to any of those, I suggest you make some change. We've already covered over-sleeping and if your sleeping too much you won't be able to fall asleep at night. Cat naps and power naps are great I know you feel great afterward however I strongly suggest them only if you haven't gotten enough sleep the night before and I think you should only nap for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Nothing more because you won't feel tired at night.
If you have a pretty lax day then I suggest you step up your activities. Sitting at home/work doing basically nothing is not good. You need to put yourself to work physically and mentally, stimulate your mind and body. Go for a walk, clean the house, exercise, ect ect. Start introducing more activities in your life and when you lay your head down at night you'll feel tired after a day of activities.
If you're still not sleepy, read before bed. Reading is a great tool to help you relax and sometimes help you fall asleep. Read something read anything but read! Every night I try to read some of my favorite magazines for an hour or so before turning on the TV and hopping into my bed.... Don't know why but I fall asleep great when the TV is on and the volume is low. Eventually in a sleepy state I will turn the TV off but sometimes I'm able to sleep through the night with the TV on.
Just some tips that work for me that I wanted to share that work for me. Anxiety has been getting better it comes in waves but nothing as bad as i felt last Saturday.
Till next time
I felt great afterward and usually give myself a 3-5 minute warm-down. I read somewhere that some people feel anxious when they start to exercise since it gets their heart beating faster but that's normal. After i had my first big anxiety attack anything that got my heart racing gave me that anxious feeling but that has since passed. If you get that feeling I suggest you slowly work your way into your exercise program. Take things light for the first few weeks and once you begin feeling better you can up the pace to where you're comfortable.
The bike is a great start, eventually i want to either get a treadmill or start to go running daily. Its getting cold here so the treadmill idea sounds much better however they are expensive!
Next I want to touch on getting sufficient sleep. I'm all about getting adequate sleep since my job requires a ton of traveling I can't be tired while I'm driving. But I feel getting enough sleep is important especially when you have anxiety. Whats enough sleep? That depends on the you but personally I'm content with 6-8 hours a night and try to stay within that range, nothing more nothing less. Nothing less because anything less than six hours will have me feeling tired in the afternoon. Nothing more because that's like not getting enough, weird huh. Everyone's different so only you know what's good for you.
If you can't sleep at night (some people with anxiety suffer with this) and it has happened to me a few times where anxiety has kept me up and its a pretty bad because you want to sleep but you can't at the same time its really an unpleasant feeling/state of mind. So if you can't sleep there are a few things to look at
Are you over-sleeping?
Are you taking cat-naps/power naps during the day?
Are your daily routines boring or don't require much physical activity?
If you answered yes to any of those, I suggest you make some change. We've already covered over-sleeping and if your sleeping too much you won't be able to fall asleep at night. Cat naps and power naps are great I know you feel great afterward however I strongly suggest them only if you haven't gotten enough sleep the night before and I think you should only nap for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Nothing more because you won't feel tired at night.
If you have a pretty lax day then I suggest you step up your activities. Sitting at home/work doing basically nothing is not good. You need to put yourself to work physically and mentally, stimulate your mind and body. Go for a walk, clean the house, exercise, ect ect. Start introducing more activities in your life and when you lay your head down at night you'll feel tired after a day of activities.
If you're still not sleepy, read before bed. Reading is a great tool to help you relax and sometimes help you fall asleep. Read something read anything but read! Every night I try to read some of my favorite magazines for an hour or so before turning on the TV and hopping into my bed.... Don't know why but I fall asleep great when the TV is on and the volume is low. Eventually in a sleepy state I will turn the TV off but sometimes I'm able to sleep through the night with the TV on.
Just some tips that work for me that I wanted to share that work for me. Anxiety has been getting better it comes in waves but nothing as bad as i felt last Saturday.
Till next time
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