It's easier to stick with exercise if you do it with a friend! Tree pose with Adrienne Michelle Yoga. Photo by Brian Johnson.
Do you enjoy exercising? Have you found something you love and stuck with it? Are you an exercise swinger, doing everything from yoga to CrossFit, still searching? Exercise is a sore spot for some of my clients. They hate the gym and therefore don't try anything else. Yet, doing something, even if it's just going for a walk, is better than doing nothing, according to new studies published recently on the relationship between exercise and longevity rates.
Can too much exercise be bad for your health? It turns out the answer is yes, but only in a very small population of long-term high-endurance athletes. Most of us don't qualify here.
What about the relationship of exercise to food? I used to be a runner. I also use to eat many, many brownies before running, justifying their consumption with exercise. It turns out this is disordered eating...an eating disorder. It's a combination of Binge Eating (one of the top three eating disorders) plus Exercise Dependence. And an obsession with exercise can have far-ranging consequences.
As an aside, here is a helpful article about what not to say to someone who has an eating disorder.
Exercise can be approached like eating. Finding the right amount is about coming to understand your bio-individuality. Once you know what exercise you like, find a way to incorporate it into your life and make it not just a habit, but part of your lifestyle. I'm still working on this. How about you? Do you have exercise you like and regularly enjoy?
P.S. Laughter is great exercise!
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