Homeopathy, Exercise and Health
Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 9:31AM
We are built to be active. Our ancestors did not have a reason to sit around for long periods of time and office jobs had yet to be invented! Our bodies are absolutely unique and their highly sophisticated systems are geared to movement, activity and integration. Let's take a look at some of the key body systems and consider the effects of exercise.
Skeletal System
Exercise helps build strong and healthy bones, musches and joints. The relationship between these elements is just as important as the individual components and so it is important to work the skeletal system as a whole. Without excercise our joints become less supple as ligamanets tighten; and with excessive weight-lifting our muscles become short and bunched leading to less joint mobility. Exercise with a good range of movement is recommended, or a combination of exercise in your week that increases joint mobility and contains some load bearing such as walking. Load bearing exercise guards againts osteoporosis by increasing bone density.
Digestive System
Our digestive systems work better with regular exercise. If you are a constipation sufferer then you will see a big difference if you take a brisk 20 minutes walk daily as long as your diet is good. Exercise seems to increase innervation and blood supply to the gut and this improves overall function. As the health of the gut increases, absorption of nutrents increases and your body receives more of what it needs.
Endocrine System
If you have a pubescent teenager at home you will already have discovered the amazing effects that exercise has on hormone levels! Rigorous exercise 3 X week balances hormone levels and eliminates those severe mood swings that teenagers are prone to. You can also discover it for yourself if you are a sufferer of Pre mentrustual tension, that exercise lessens the severity enormously and for those with mild PMT can eliminate it altogether. This wonderful hormone balancing effect is great for most endocrine dysfunctions or disorders.
Respiratory System
Everyone knows that swimming can be a great sport for asthmatics. It seems odd that a sport that works the lungs which are the problem area for asthmatics can make such a dramatic difference. The key thing is that the exercise develops lung cpacity and strengthens the lungs which has a healing efect on the asthma. In fact, although swimming has the extra benefit of breath-holding, any aerobic exercise will provide a decent workout for your lungs.
Skin
Your skin will improve with exercise. Exercise increases elimination which helps the body to get rid of toxins, thereby improving health. It stimulates your lymphatic system which you can liken to your garbage collection system. Improved lymph drainage not only increases elimination of garbage but also improve delivery of nutrients to the areas that need them. It also increases blood supply to the skin which can only help you obtain that gorgous healthy, glowing exterior!
Metabolism
There are many complex things that govern and influence your metabolic function including hormones, diet and exercise. If you eat fequent, healthy meals and do not skip breakfast and combine this with a regular exercise regime, your metabolic rate will be faster. It also pays to increase your lean muscle mass as the greater your muscle to fat tissue ratio, the faster your metabolic rate will be. This is an impotant fact when putting together an exercise regime for weightloss but studies show that the greater our lean muscle mass the healthier we are in general.
Depression
Many studies have shown that regular exercise can have a very positive outcome for depression, especially mild depression. It seems this improvment is caused by a synergistic combination of many of the balancing effects described above. What is not in doubt is the amazing changes that appear to take place when room for regular exercise is made.
These are just some of the profound ways in which regular exercise can improve your health and well-being. Homeopathy is a holistic medicine but on its own it is not the answer to everything, and in part two of this article I will be showing you how to get some regular exercise into your life.
Sam Adkins
In my last ezine I talked about the reasons why exercise is good for you. If you did not know this information already, you now have some great reasons to get active. But what if you know this already and motivation is your real problem?
Today we are going to examine the blocks that may be holding you back from steppinginto a healthier way of being. Then I am going to give you 7 ways to get yourself up and exercising!
"The Shoulds'
I don't know about you but being told I 'should' do something does not make me do it! In fact hearing my own voice saying the same thing has the same effect. Instead of beating yourself into submission around exercise let's examine the things that may be holding you back from exercising regularly.
Take a moment with a blank piece of paper divided into two columns and write down 10 benefits you currently get when you do NOT exercise. (This may be a hard list to fill for some of you but don't worry).
Then, write down the10 benefits you will get from taking exercise regularly. Now imagine you are giving a talk to an audience about the benefits to you of NOT exercising.
- Would your audience buy into your stance?
- Would you feel good about standing by your lack of exercise?
If either of these answers is "NO" then you are ready to start making an exercise action plan.
Here are the 7 steps to a healthier you!
- Enjoy it: Choose forms of exercise that you actually enjoy. It doesn't have to be the thing that will make you the most fit but it IS very important that you actually like doing it. This may mean that you take Salsa classesor walk with friends rather than hitting the gym.
- Footgear: Get the right shoes for your chosen exercise. Just investing in them and then the act of putting them on sends important signals to your whole being about investment in self and committment.
- Make Time: No-one has enough time for exercise so we have to make time. There are two effective ways to do this. Firstly by replacing something you are already doing such as walking or cycling towork instead of driving. Secondly youmight considermaking your day longer by getting up earlier to accomodate your exercise before your day would normally start. I personally like the latter as I get some me-time before everyone else is up and the time I lose in sleep is more than balanced out by the extra energyI generate for myself by exercising:)
- The Fridge: Write up your exercise goals and benefits and stick this on your fridge. This way you see it ALOT
- Frequency: Exercising twice a week is harder on a motivational level than doing it 3 or 4 times. This is because the physical and emotional benefits are harder to notice and you have to use much more will power to ensure you get your two sessions in. So it is best to exercise 3-4 times a week.
- Hydration: Starting a regular and new exercise regime can cause many body systems to have their own work out and this may throw up unfamiliar symptoms. See your homeopath if these become troublesome but it is also very important to drink up to 2 litres of spring or energised water a day. You will see a positive change in your skin in just 14 days with exercise and excellent hydration!
- Keep a record: You are starting something BIG. So treat yourself to a notebook and make a record of when you exercised and how it felt and what you did. That way you will be able to look back on your progress and see how far you have come in a short time.
So next time you are procrastinating and thinking of "The Shoulds", turn it around and think of "The Coulds" and see the possibilities for your health and your life with an energised and fitter you! If you need some motivational help with homeopathy make an online consultation with me to work on removing your road blocks.
I would love to hear your experiences with starting a new exercise regime in the comments below :)
Sam Adkins, exercise, homeopathy, the homeopathic coach
Reader Comments (4)
Great advice, Dr.Sam,as usual.
But for those of us that are cursed with CFS /Fibromyalgia, the consequences of minimal exertion is Days of unrelenting fatigue&pain...
How we envy all you 'normal' people.
cheers
You are absolutely right Dar. I think that should be the subject of another post actually. How to manage debilitating conditions such as fibromyalgia/CFS. Having been a sufferer of CFS and Fibromyalgia myself in the past, I feel somewhat qualified to write on that and from the homeopathic perspective, we treat this type of condition, often with good success.
I love to dance! and I love, love love my Vibration Platform, I put Samyo on it and he has fallen in love with it too :)
I want to find out more about these vibration platforms! Do you have any useful links Annie?