Exercise and Emotions
January 27th, 2007This article on exercise and emotions is specifically targeted for those of you who may not have exercised with a degree of regularity for quite some time or for people who have never exercised much before. When embarking on a new and hopefully disciplined exercise regime the task can at first seem a little daunting for a number of reasons. You have to set aside or find new blocks of time each week, this can be a disruption to your usual schedule, you may have to forgo other activities to fit in time to exercise, exercising often has a psychological impact on your life forcing you to take a closer look at your diet, it can also, at first, make you much more tired than you previously were prior to when you started to exercise and before your body adjusts to the new physical demands of regular training sessions. On top of all this when you start to exercise sometimes your body’s first response is to bring up a flood of old negative emotions. Let me explain.
By not exercising, your body never gets the chance to elevate your heart rate and drive fresh, oxygen rich blood to all areas of your body. When you elevate your heart rate and breathing pattern you take more oxygen into your bloodstream which helps revive and rejuvenate your entire body. If you don’t exercise, the toxins from the food you eat, like minute traces of pesticides on fruit, from the smoking process of certain foods, from metallic chemicals like mercury in seafood and many more will accumulate in your body and get stored in tissues like muscle and fat. We also take in toxins through the air we breathe and a type of contaminated energy can also build up in our systems from habitual negative thought patterns and spending regular time around depressing or pessimistic people who tend to bring you down to their low vibration level.
Due to the reasons mentioned above, sometimes when previously dormant individuals begin an exercise program they can at first, either during or after working out, feel mildly or extremely depressed. The cause of this is related to the heart pumping clean oxygenated blood through muscle and fat tissue as well as making the body sweat. This elevated heart rate which forcefully pumps blood to previously inactive areas of the body causes a dislodging of these built up toxins and can make the individual feel emotional and depressed. As these toxins circulate around the body and mind, a flood of mixed emotions can sometimes occur. This can result, after a few unhappy exercise sessions, in making the individual want to give up on training altogether.
Another very common side effect that many individuals experience when beginning to workout is a noticeable increase in blemishes or relatively wide spread breakouts of acne on the skin. This is also directly related to the build up of different forms of toxic residues in the body and often just under the surface of the skin. This can be particularly unpleasant for obvious reasons and cause for great despair as it seems when you make the effort to exercise the first results you notice actually make you look or feel worse than you did before you started your new exercise program.
The good news is these symptoms don’t last for long. There is no giving a definitive time period for how long you will have to endure these negative emotions or for how long it will take to clear your skin. These factors are always dependent on the individual. It may depend on how frequently you exercise. If you start training 5 x 1 hour sessions per week you would likely notice these symptoms would dissipate within a couple of weeks. If you trained only half as often it might take twice as long until you feel good after a workout.
The most important thing to appreciate is not to give up. Exercising is not only good for your body but also for your mind as well, and the beauty of continuing to exercise when you first notice some negative energy coming to the surface is the more often you do it the quicker you will rid yourself of these unwanted toxins. By continuing with the program after this negative energy has gone will result in your brain releasing the powerful endorphin hormone which will circulate around your entire system, creating in you a sense of well being. This natural chemical not only puts you on a high during and after exercise it is the reason why so many people get addicted to working out. So if you suffer with any of these symptoms in the beginning, just go with it even if it feels emotionally painful but keep in mind that this will only be temporary and what is waiting for you around the corner will be a new, clearer thinking and happier version of the old you. Good luck, you know you can do it.
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January 30th, 2007 at 1:45 am
This is extremely true. The first time I went on a diet, I stuck to my program and lost about 50 lbs. However, it came with a price; my face and back broke out into terrible acne. I was utterly depressed..I mean, losing all that weight with the intention to look good but instead having my face look like the surface of Mars…. However, with time it got better and even though I’ve gained and lost a large amount of weight in many cycles since then, I never broke out again. Our fat cells are dormant cells, whose chemically inactive nature makes it act like repositories for all sorts of toxins that build up in the body. In this way, exercise is the best Detox program you can ask for.
On another note, most people get deterred when they start exercise because they either feel they are not losing weight fast enough or the initial weight loss comes to a halt in a plateau. This is all due to water weight and people should be mindful of that. Burning real fat takes time and water fluctuations can wreck havoc on our expectations and emotions.
great article,
Cheers!
February 8th, 2007 at 7:12 am
[…] Exercise and Emotions (835) by John Hill gives us plenty of excellent reasons to start working out more often. These words come form a professional health instructor. […]
August 10th, 2007 at 2:21 am
<strong>Carnival of Dieting Tips…</strong>
Welcome to the August 10, 2007 edition of a very public diet!. I just get more excited about this carnival - we receive exercise tips, lifestyle tips and tips on calorie counting. Thank you for inspiring us.