Thursday, April 2, 2009

Exercise and Fibromyalgia



Like my hummingbird picture I took this morning? See those wings and tail fly? That is natural exercise for that tiny bird.

How can we do "bit's" of exercise like that? We recognize we cannot exercise like "normals" can but we also need to recognize the little ways we can get exercise throughout our day.

Dance your way through dusting, picking up or whatever. It can be with music or not. Moving our arms and legs within range of motion helps work those muscles. Lifting arms up into the air.... shaking our hands, shaking our total bodies while doing deep breathing to circulate the oxygen through out our bodies.

I have a paper sack rule for working outdoors. I'm not sure I have told you about it so am describing it here. Yep, spring comes and yard work begins but we simply cannot do long hours of heavy work. I fold down the top 3 inches of a grocery paper bag(to make it a little stronger) and then when the bag is full of clippings, weeds, etc (loosely, not packed) that signals me to take a break. Amazing what 10 minutes 2 or 3 times a day how much gets done. This is one of my golden rules of gardening. PACE yourself.

Taking walks at our pace several times a day gives us exercise and fresh air that raises the hormones that create good feeling in us. Depression is common with chronic pain sufferers Getting out and walking helps that. Do nature walks, looking for little things that we can watch or admire.

Take a walk through your main street, checking out the little shops along the way. Pick up speed between the shops so that your heart rate goes up.

Don't sit for hours at a time, get up, move about doing a few minutes of walking in place or marching throughout the house several times

What do you do for exercise? Could you share some here? Have a beautiful day...and soon to be weekend.

3 comments:

Carmen S. said...

I get exercise in the evenings at work, but it's the wrong kind! I'm running around for 4-5 hours bending, lifting, walking dogs, sweeping, mopping, all strenuous stuff. I'd like to find a less physically demanding job, but in this economy I doubt thats gonna happen. I need to do the stretching more, I do slack alot on that!

Cinda Crawford said...

Dear Carol, You have some wonderful ideas here & I would love to share them on my blog & podcast audience at http://www.healthmattersshow.com. It's designed the website to help people with Fibro & CFS get well. However, I don't fully understand your paper sack rule. After you fold down the 2 inches, are you filling it up with work to do & when you're done you quit- OR - do you fill it up with pulled weeds, etc. More clarification will give me the info I need :-)) Stay as wonderful as you are & great blog, gal!

Country Whispers said...

Hi Carol,
You must have done this post just for me. I overdid it yesterday by scrubbing walls down all day and then taking my 3 mile walk last night. This was way too much for me all in one day but I knew it was going to rain today so I wanted to get my walk in as opposed to skipping it. This is where I have a real problem. I have always been able to do..do..do and now I can't. It is so frustrating! So here I sit today feeling worn down, tired and achy. I guess I'll think twice the next time I try to do too much. As for the exercise, for me it makes a huge difference. I look forward to taking a daily walk. It makes me feel so much better as long as I don't overdo.