Move Your Body Every Day!!!

Every morning i NEED to get up and do some form of movement. Today, i went to equinox and did elliptical, mixture of hiking up incline and running, weights for lower body, functional exercises, core exercises and yoga stretching. other days i do yoga, pilates or gyrotonic exercise. I love doing anything i can outside- biking, hiking etc. every day i jump on my trampoline. i often do a combo of all of these things. the key is to find something you love to do and just do it often. i encourage you to break out of your habits and try something new. i'm just getting back into cross-training and i love it. my body and mind are reenergized and i feel very strong!! i love it!!

Read below for more information on exercise:

John Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School showed that endorphins don’t cross into the brain easily. They get metabolized instead. Physical activity promotes the creation and survival of neurotransmitters- molecules that shuttle messages between neurons.

A recent article in the New York Times reviewed an animal study by the National Institute of Mental Health. It showed that physical activity promotes the creation and survival of neurotransmitters. They found that mice that exercised a few times a week were much less likely to feel anxiety, stress and general depression than the mice that were not allowed to exercise. Clearly mice aren’t humans, but the effects in the brain are the same. Humans are much calmer, more centered, and happier after exercise. This is because exercise increases the levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, which are the neurotransmitters that control our thoughts and emotions.

Here are some other reasons to get moving and grooving:

Medical Benefits: Exercise has time and time again been proven to decrease the risk of a number of diseases including: cardiovascular diseases, colon and breast cancers, diabetes, osteoporosis, depression and dementia.

Several studies have shown exercise relieves systems related to ADD, OCD, anxiety, depression, addiction and get this… aging!

Sleep. People who exercise sleep better at night. And what better way to relieve one of those things stressing you than to cut back on anxiety at night!

Endorphins from exercise reduce pain.

Exercise also helps get your intestinal track moving allowing you to stay regular.

Memory. Exercise has been proven to improve people’s memories.

Energy. Fact. People who exercise have more energy. (And when you add raw and living foods to that equation, you get a real life Energizer Bunny!)

Let’s take some life advice from Dr. John Ratey, author of Spark and co-founder of Sparkling Life:
“I tell people that going for a run is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin because, like the drugs, exercise elevates these neurotransmitters. Exercise balances neurotransmitters – along with the rest of the neurochemicals in the brain. Keeping your brain in balance can change your life.”

So get out there, go for a hike, a run, a walk, bike to work, try out waterskiing, brave skiing, take up a new dance, invite some friends over for a Pilates DVD, just move! You definitely deserve to treat yourself to happiness 