Movement: The Mental Illness Antidote

?“It’s like moving through treacle to do anything.”?

“Even brushing my teeth takes so much effort.”

“I can’t even get out of bed when I’m really down.”

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These are some of the phrases I’ve heard in my therapy office from depressed clients describing their most difficult moments of their mental illness.?

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I like to describe depression as a parasite that sits on your shoulder.? It whispers in your ear thoughts that weigh you down.? This is how it feeds itself- isolation, insulation and immobility.

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This year’s #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek has the theme #MomentsForMovement.? When most of us think of movement for health, we think of it as something we do for our physical health- and it is.? We know that movement improves cardiovascular health, digestive health and decreases our risk factors for many physical diseases.

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However, movement is also good for our mental health and wellbeing.? Think of it this way.? If the parasite wants to eat by keeping you immobile, you need to starve it by doing the opposite of what it’s telling you.? Here are a few ways movement can improve mental health.

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Blood Flow to the Brain

Do you ever talk to runners after a run?? Their bodies are tired, but their brains are on point.? They are definitely people you want on your pub quiz team.? As we move and healthily elevate our heart rates, we get more oxidized blood to our brains.? This improves our memory and learning capabilities.? Oxygen and glucose are essential for brain energy.? Moving our bodies keeps the regulation of the flow of this brain food.? This also protects against cognitive decline as we stop that muscle from going limp with regular exercise and healthy nutrients.

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Combat Cortisol

Cortisol is the stress hormone.? Its goal is to keep us away from danger.? The difficult thing about cortisol is that it needs to be used up and pushed out.? When our stressor was a bear coming into the camp, this was easy as we had to fight or run away.? After the bear left, we took a minute to recover and come back to center.? Now, the stressor is an impending deadline or a late train.? We still get the stress hormone flooding through, but we don’t exert ourselves to use it up.? 10 minutes of walking briskly can help us use that up, bring us to centre and help us move with better intent throughout the day.

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Move to Make Space

Have you ever sat in front of your computer stressed out and unable to even remember what you are doing?? Mental illness takes up a lot of space in our working minds.? This makes it difficult to access things like working memory and healthy processes.? Movement starves that parasite.? It brings blood to the brain which needs room.? It pushes out the illness allowing space to think and process.?

Movement for Sound Sleep

I see you.? Your head hits the pillow.? You close your eyes.? Your body starts to relax.? Your brain says, “Let’s think about everything you didn’t do today and everything you have to do tomorrow and make a never-ending overwhelming list.”? It’s 2 hours of stress before you finally exhaust yourself enough to sleep.? Movement helps us not only get to sleep by regulating our circadian rhythms but stay asleep by allowing us to go into that deep, restorative stage 4 sleep.? Better sleep makes us feel better the next day.?

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Self-Care Supercharge

As a younger mom of 4, I was more than a bit stressed getting through the daily tasks of keeping the kiddos alive.? I always had people say, “Find time for yourself.”? All I could think of was, “WHERE?”.? The solution for me was family walks.? The kids would run ahead as we played redlight-green light.? We’d go to a park where they could get their “jumpies” out.? I would walk the perimeter of the park.? I couldn’t leave the children alone, but I could have some mindful moments to find balance to my day.? I could keep one eye on the kids, one eye on the ground, and my third eye looking inward.? This regular practice helped keep my emotions balanced so I could manage any negative thoughts and overwhelm.

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Movement is possible.? Don’t let that parasite lie to you.? You can get out of bed.? You can go up and down your stairs 3 or 4 times.? You can take an extra lap around the grocery store.? It doesn’t matter where you start.? What matters is that you starve that parasite and bring yourself back to a place where the voice you listen to is a healthy one inside.

#mentalhealthawarenessweek #momentsformovement #depression #anxiety