by Lucy | Jan 2, 2018 | biblical counseling, emotions, whole health wellness
Who doesn’t need a mood-boost? A routine prescription for women with depression and anxiety is exercise. Regular physical activity of any sort can lift sagging spirits.
A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. Proverbs 15:13, ESV
Even Exercise-Lite Boosts Your Mood
At the Cooper Aerobics Research Institute, 120 volunteers followed the standard gym recommendations and another 120 volunteers tried exercise-lite. Both groups on average reduced their blood pressure by eight points, lowered total cholesterol, and gained about the same amount of muscle and dropped about the same amount of fat.
What about boosting endorphins while exercising-lite? They got that too.
But for a bigt boost, it seems you must stress muscles for the release of the endorphins. Remember, you don’t have to train for the Olympics to get a mood boost from exercise.
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So get up and get moving.
And break a sweat! A shiny glow looks good on you.
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Pick an exercise you like! For me, walking wins. Early in the day, I grab my sneakers and walk. In the evening, I stretch and do some simple exercises like push-ups. Once you figure out which exercise works best for you, make a plan and do it.
Making a New Mood-Boost Habit
Making a new habit and sticking with it is the most difficult part for most of us because new habits must be formed. Beth, a soft-spoken, 20-something who has mild anxiety, would like to lose five pounds and feel physically better.
Then I told her about the mood-boosting effects of exercise, and she said she’d start for sure. Awareness is the first step, isn’t it?
What’s next? Here are 3 quick tips toward making a new mood-boost habit:
1. Put it on your calendar. You write “dentist visit” on your calendar, don’t you? So why schedule exercise? Be specific. Select a time, days, and place.
2. Be realistic. Be safe. Most people the greatest success in forming a new exercise habit when they build on beginning successes. If you choose walking and are a healthy beginner, start with a daily 10-minute walk at a moderate pace, for instance. The next week add 5 minutes to your daily walk. Add another 5 minutes the following week and so on. Once you reach 30 to 60 minutes of walking daily, you’ve developed an amazing mood-boost habit. (Check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.)
3. Reward yourself. Each time you complete your exercise, give yourself a small reward. It could be as simple as a smiley face on your calendar to something a bit more extravagant, such as $5 toward a purchase. At the end of the week, grab your stash and go for lunch with a friend, take in a movie, or buy something fun.
Counseling Hearts to Hope,
by Lucy | Feb 21, 2017 | biblical counseling, emotions, whole health wellness |
Worry is EVERYWHERE today, and it’s making you sick. Scrolling through Facebook is enough to churn anyone’s stomach nowadays. So much hate, so little grace!
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Yet God says, “Do not worry” about anything. But how?!
In this short article, you’ll discover:
- Jesus’ wise words on worry.
- Worry makes you sick.
- How to stop worry.
Wise Words on Worry
Read this peace-filled passage, these Jesus words:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!
Luke 12:22-24 (NIV)
Birds and wild flowers — valuable, yes. But God values you so much more than them. Don’t his words calm your soul?
Worry Makes You Sick
Here’s what happens to you when you worry. And almost anything contributes to worry-stress: grumpy kids, a messy house, an overbearing or passive husband, gossipy coworkers. . .but especially your attitude about your circumstances.
So what’s your main stressor? How do you respond?
You feel stress in your body. Stress may tighten your neck, tense your back, or bring on a migraine. It can mess with your digestion and raise your blood pressure.
You eat poorly. You are more likely to turn to more snacks and less fruit, plus LOTS of chocolate and skipped meals. Here’s a better choice right here
You skip exercise. When stressed, you may lack the energy to work out or take a walk when getting moving will actually energize you. And it wil give you more time to ruminate on my worries.
Wouldn’t you like to know how to stop worry?
How to Stop Worrying
Simply, FOCUS. Focus on Jesus and his love. Focus on God and his greatness and protection and care. This thought journal right here helps you do transform your thoughts.
Stop focusing on yourself. Be other-centered. Be God-centered.
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With a new focus, right now decide one thing you can do — yes, action! — that helps someone. I’ll start with a few ideas and I’d love to hear yours.
Write a thank you note and mail it.
Help your child with a school project.
Phone a family member or friend and ask about her life.
Think About It
How does the action of helping someone help squash worry? What are other choices you can make to stay safe from worry sickness?
Sharing Hope with Your Heart,
by Lucy | May 16, 2012 | whole health wellness |
Our grandparents and their parents had less money than we do today, but they possessed the gift of rest sweet rest. Why? One reason: daily exercise!
Money has an upside and a downside that can help or hurt your goal to get the rest you need. Psst. . .Did you miss any post in my REST series? See the last one here.
The upside: Prosperity means you can relax after work (whether outside the home or at home). You don’t have to hunt for a second job.
The downside: Prosperity has turned up into cerebral slugs. We choose updates our Facebook status and our tweets over moving our bodies and getting the exercise we need.
And when you and I sit sit sit all day long, we not only increase our risk for obesity and its nasty cousins (including heart disease and some types of cancer), we feel more stressed and less rested.
The prescription: Move it!
Many decades ago women broke a sweat going about their chores and watching after the kids. Scrubbing laundry on washboards, hanging shirts, jeans, long johns, and sheets on the clothesline to dry, sweeping, and washing and waxing floors on hands and knees as well as making huge meals three time a day and washing dishes by hands. All this physical toil burned calories and cured insomnia.
Now we drive our cars to the gym and work out, if we have the energy.
Amazing but true: Expending energy produces rest. “One of the first benefits people notice when they embark on an exercise program is sounder sleep,” said physician Richard Swenson, author of the bestseller Margins. “Healthy physical tiredness probably has no equal as a sleep-inducing sedative.”
Indeed.
But HOW?
As I wrote in my book Energy Eating, soon to come out in a revised edition, the best way to exercise so you get good rest is to combine an aerobic activity (cycling, swimming, walking, jogging, dance) with a strength-training exercise (calisthenics, resistance rubber bands, weight-lifting) and gentle stretching.
Start slow. If you haven’t broken a sweat in a while, start with two weekly, 20-minute aerobic activites, two weekly, 10-minute strength-training exercise, and 5 to 10 minutes of gentle stretching fours times a week.
Increase as you go. Exercise longer (30 to 45 minutes per session) and more frequently as your endurance and strength improves. Aim for three to five 45-minute aerobic activities a week and three strength-training exercises a week, as well as daily stretching.
Be smart. To stick with exercise, select activities you like. For example, I don’t like to swim laps. Boooring. Instead I work out on a machine called the Elliptical for aerobic exercise and use machines and free weights. Also, check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Put it on your calendar. You are more likely to get moving when you plan your exercise and put is on your calendar.
ENJOY! As you move and burn calories — and get better rest — you may also notice a mood boost. Physical activity bumps up the production of your brain’s feel-good endorphins and lowers stress levels.
Go Retro
More than a century ago, 90 percent of Americans were farmers; today the number has dwindled to a mere 2 percent, Swenson reported. You can get the benefit of exercise by growing your own vegetables and fruits in a large garden at home. Plus, you’ll save money on your grocery bill.
Question: How has exercise improved your rest?
With Joy Overflowing!
by Lucy | Jan 24, 2011 | biblical counseling |
Do you know that Bible does NOT command thinness? Why then do so many Chistian women — and girls! — desire a Victoria’s Secret model’s airbrushed body?
Vanity? Insecurity? A desire to feel happy?
Is dropping 15 pounds and toning up a bad idea? Not if your motivation is taking care of the body God gave you to glorify him.
But if you made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight without God’s glory in mind, stop dieting.
Learn a better way: God’s.
Please join me and my guest Michelle Myers on my online radio show on Tuesday at 1 pm CT and discover her faith-based recovery from anorexia and obsessive over-exercising. Michlle is the author of The Look That Kills, An Anorexic’s Addiction to Control.
To listen LIVE or to the archived show, click HERE.
A pastor’s wife, Michelle had a respectable goal: become healthier. But she went overboard. Way overboard. She began a downward spiral leading to four-year battle with a food disorder that led her back to God.
As with many addictions, the lives of all loved ones are affected by the disease. Do you want help with an eating disorder or with making friends with food and your body? Are you ready to stop dieting? Good.
Want more help in learning a biblical way to take care of your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, consider my eBook Food as Friend, 7 Secrets to Making Peace with Food and Your Body, God’s Way. To get your fast download, click HERE.
You Are Valued!
