Exercise as
Spiritual
Movement
Visualize yourself walking down a tree-lined pathway, the sun’s rays beaming down through the trees, a gentle breeze on your face, listening to the sound of your breath in and out. There’s something very meditative about moving your body, particularly in the outdoors. Movement is so much more than just burning calories and building muscles, though these are important benefits for your health. In modern society, we focus so much on getting to the gym to fit in our workout, with our headphones on, that we forget about connecting with the world around us during the process. Maybe this is a reason why so many of us find it hard to stick to an exercise regimen, particularly one that seems like a chore rather than a celebration of our bodies, which is what exercise should be.
Movement not only works your muscles, including your heart muscle, it also clears the brain, focuses you, and makes you feel great, thanks to the hormones called endorphins that are released during exercise. Endorphins are often referred to as feel-good hormones because they do just that: they boost your mood, making you feel happy and energized. (These are what give you the so-called euphoric runner’s high.)
These endorphins are one of the reasons exercise lowers stress, helping you look at the world around you differently and with greater optimism, enthusiasm, and happiness. This reduction in stress helps you fall asleep quickly and sleep more soundly, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Regular movement also boosts your immunity, reducing how often you get sick. And it gives your skin a youthful glow. There’s a reason healthy radiance is common after a heart-pumping workout: as you breathe in oxygen and work your muscles, you boost your circulation, increasing blood flow to the skin. As circulation and sweat increases, so does the removal of toxins from the body, which in turn contributes to your overall health. (Sforzo, 1989)
I want to share the story of one of my patients, Jessica, who came to see me because of chronic eczema that wouldn’t stop flaring up. Like so many working mothers today, Jessica hadn’t really worked out for years after having her third child. Sure, she fit in an exercise class here or there, but she didn’t really move with any consistency. Jessica also wasn’t eating well. I prescribed her a skin cream to help with the eczema, but we also discussed how lifestyle, including exercise, plays a part in inflammatory skin conditions like eczema. I explained to her that taking care of their body is one of the most important gifts a parent can give their children. Having your children see that you are important, that you are prioritizing yourself, and that you are moving provides a lot of healthy life lessons for them to learn. Committing to movement is an affirmation that you are grateful for your body and are doing everything you can to celebrate that.
Another thing Jessica and I spoke about was that exercise does not have to be a chore. If it feels that way, then you’re definitely doing the wrong kind of exercise. When it feels right, you love it and want to do more of it. She explained that she hated the exercise boot camp class she forced herself to do every once in a while. She loved walking, however. But Jessica always believed that walking wasn’t effective exercise because she wasn’t burning enough calories to “count.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Walking is one of the most effective body-mind-spirit exercises you can do, particularly if you do it regularly. Jessica committed to finding time to walk every day. Like all my patients who make over their lifestyles after meeting with me, when Jessica came back for a follow-up one month later, she was feeling better about herself and exuded more confidence. Her eczema was dramatically reduced and her lifestyle had gotten a makeover. She was walking outdoors every single day, except for when it was pouring rain. At first, she started with a quick mind-clearing walk around the block. Then she built up to walking around her local park several times a week. As she explained it to me, “I love walking and always have. I dropped several pounds, am sleeping better, and am less stressed around my kids. I have a whole new appreciation for life!” The key, as with Jessica, is to do something you love. Walking, dancing, yoga, swimming, and tai chi are all movement options that can be meditative and spiritual, while also being good for the body.
The Mind-Exercise Connection
The brain functions better after exercise. This connection has been proven again and again by researchers. I also discovered this connection firsthand during medical school. I had a treadmill in my apartment, and despite long, grueling study hours and practical training in the hospital, I made it a point to walk on the treadmill four or five times a week. I tried to do anywhere between thirty minutes and an hour. A few light weights for strength training, regular stretching, and exercise videos helped complete my not-so-fancy apartment routine. This commitment to exercise—in spite of my busy schedule—made all the difference for me. It cleared my mind so I could process everything better. I also felt better in general—I was less stressed and happier overall. Plus, I had more energy. And I got sick much less than I ever did before, despite having a demanding workload.
I previously mentioned the endorphins that give you the runner’s high. These hormones are actually what are called neurotransmitters, chemicals that pass electrical signals from one neuron to the next in the nervous system. These neurotransmitters play a key role in the functioning of the central nervous system. When they’re released, as they are after exercise, they interact with what are called opiate receptors in the brain, reducing our perception of pain. That’s why endorphins have a similar, albeit natural and non-addictive, effect on the brain like the powerful drugs morphine and codeine, which act on these same receptors.
These endorphins, which are released during moderate to vigorous exercise, are certainly one reason why exercise can reduce anxiety. But all forms of exercise, from gentle yoga and tai chi to swimming, walking, and dance, reduce stress, so there’s more to the mind-body picture than just endorphins. I believe it has to do with the meditative and spiritual aspect of moving our bodies. By being aware of our bodies during exercise and by being appreciative of all that our bodies can do, we are experiencing a critical mind-body connection that helps relax us and connect us with our spiritual selves. This is even more the case if your mind is able to wander away from the day’s worries and focus on the here and now—your rhythmic breathing, the sound of your feet hitting the pavement while you’re running, the feel of the wind on your face. You can even recite a mantra like this one to yourself while exercising: “I lovingly do everything I can to assist my body in maintaining perfect health.”
One young teenage patient of mine, Madison, shared the reason she loves swimming, particularly what’s considered long-course laps. She loved feeling the water on her body and being able to tune out the world around her and just swim. She also used her swimming time to think about things, working out issues in her mind. Madison’s mother explained to me that Madison is always much calmer getting out of the pool than she was getting in. Her mom also mentioned to me how much more self-confident Madison was after having started swimming. These benefits of exercise are not part of the popular calorie-counting and fat-burning reasons to get moving, but I would argue they are just as important for your health.
Vigorous exercise like power walking, running, swimming, and biking can also boost brain functioning, helping you think more clearly and stay alert and focused longer, while allowing you to be more creative. In fact, research from the University of British Columbia shows that moving the body is actually so powerful it causes the creation of new neurons or nerve cells in the brain, and specifically the hippocampus, the center of learning and memory. Stress, on the other hand, hampers the growth of new neurons. What’s more, a study from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that exercise also seems to boost the brain by reducing inflammation in the body and in the brain, keeping brain cells healthy. The researchers even go so far as to say that exercise actually changes the brain for the better, protecting it from age-related memory changes. In essence, exercise keeps the brain young. (ten Brinke et al, 2014; Barry, 2011; Dinitrov, 2017; Sandoiu, 2017)
Keep in mind too that the head is home to the crown and third eye chakras. By boosting brainpower and circulation all over the body, including in the head, meditative exercise helps to open the crown and third eye chakras, particularly when you’re breathing in and out rhythmically, as is the case during vigorous exercise. Remember, it is the crown chakra that rules our communication with our spiritual self, while our third eye chakra governs intuition, memory, and imagination.
Movement Meditation
To transform current ideals of exercise away from the treadmill, elliptical trainer, and exercise classes, we must look to movement as meditation. We must consider movement as an opportunity to sync the body and spirit. Doing so can re-energize us, make us more creative, and lift anxiety and depression.
What this means: we need to approach exercise with a different mindset. Get outdoors instead of going to the gym. Take off your headphones and listen to the sounds around you. Observe what’s going on while staying centered and focused on a sound or mantra. Try this while doing any outdoor activity: walking your dog; running in the park; biking around your neighborhood; or kayaking, canoeing, or stand-up paddle boarding. You don’t have to go fast. You just have to be mindful of everything around you—how the sun shines or the clouds roll in, the feel of the air on your skin, the sounds of nature or others around you. Try to observe, hear, smell, and feel without attachment.
I mentioned forest bathing earlier (see page 70), but this is the perfect example of movement meditation. Forest bathing, also called shinrin (“forest”) yoku (“bathing”), is the act of taking in the forest through all your senses: the smell of the earth beneath your feet, the feel of the fresh, cold water of the stream, the sounds of the birds around you, the taste of the dew in the air, and visions of the beauty in every direction. (ShinrinYoku, 2019)
The idea behind forest bathing is that nature can restore and rejuvenate us. The key: you must turn off your phone and pack it away while forest bathing. This means no pictures for Instagram or texts of what you’re seeing along the way. To effectively forest bathe, you must disconnect from the rest of the world around you. When doing this with others, it’s most effective to limit conversation. All of this allows you to connect with nature, which brings a sense of calm. The beauty of forest bathing, however, is that you don’t need a forest and you don’t need to walk. You can perform the actions of forest bathing while doing any activity, as long as it’s done outdoors in nature.
Healing Water Movement
For thousands of years, people have sought relief and renewal—physical, emotional, and even spiritual—by immersing themselves in water. We come from water in the womb, which is why it has the power to relax our bodies and soothe our souls. Water is also associated with the sacral chakra, located in the pelvic area. When this chakra is open, you are calm, joyful, creative, and connect easily with others. These are also the benefits of water-based movement.
There’s no question about the healing powers of water, which is why water-based movement like swimming, with its blissful weightlessness, can be done by most people at any age. It’s also incredibly peaceful and meditative if you’re in the pool without a lot of noise or other swimmers. My teenage patient Madison found this out firsthand.
Swimming is actually excellent exercise for the body too, something that most people don’t realize. I absolutely love to swim. It utilizes arms, legs, and core, which keeps all of them toned. And whether you’re doing laps, aqua aerobics, aqua jogging (running in the water), or even aqua kickboxing, you’re getting your heart rate up, without the impact on joints or muscles that land-based exercises like running or jumping can have. (Water acts as a cushion for the body’s joints; it’s low impact.) The water also provides up to 42 percent greater resistance than air, making it the perfect weight-training machine.
There are plenty of water-based movements that also involve meditation. Consider meditative stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking or canoeing. And there’s the water-based movement called Watsu, which comes from a combination of the words “water” and “shiatsu.” During a Watsu session, which occurs in a warm pool heated to the same temperature as your body, the Watsu practitioner supports, cradles, and gently rocks you in a way not so different from what happens in a womb. The practitioner takes you through a series of gentle stretches meant to calm the body and mind. The warm water relaxes the muscles, helping you get a deep, relaxing stretch. You can also do it on your own in a warm “therapy” pool, with this meditation. (Watsu, 2019)
Warm Water Meditation
Close your eyes and feel the water around you, touching your skin, moving with a gentle rhythm like your own breath. Imagine yourself as one with the water. Appreciate the comfort and safety of the water around you. Feel the cooler air on your face and neck.
Visualize yourself swimming in the ocean. Feel the rhythmic waves syncing with the rhythms in your own body. Feel the heat of the sun on your face. Smell the salt from the ocean air.
Take a deep diaphragmatic breath in and exhale deeply. Now, try Ujjayi (pronounced ooo-ji), or ocean breath, which helps to further calm the body and mind through its rhythm, which is said to mimic the rhythm of the ocean waves. Close your lips and breathe deeply in through your nose. Now open your mouth and breathe out saying “haaah” as if you were trying to fog up a mirror. Continue this ocean breath five times: breathe in deeply, and breathe out “haaah.” Finish by taking a long, slow, deep breath in and out through your mouth.
Yoga: Exercise for the Body and Spirit
Yoga, as I talked about earlier, helps you breathe, relax, and stretch at the same time. It also exercises the body without putting strain on the muscles, making it appropriate for people of any age, even for those with illnesses, disabilities, and disease when other forms of exercise may not be an option. Yoga combines both meditation and motion, making it a good exercise option for busy, stressed people, which includes so many of us today. One of the great things about yoga is that you don’t need to go anywhere to do it. It can be done in your living room or even in your office, no gym necessary.
But one question so often comes up: can yoga really provide the health and cardiovascular benefits of exercise like an intense cardio workout can? The answer is yes, but it depends on what kind of yoga you’re practicing. Here’s a guide to the different types and the body benefits they provide (keep in mind, though, that many classes and even yoga videos often mix different styles into one session):
Ashtanga Yoga
This is the most vigorous form of yoga, as it involves doing yoga poses—standing, seated, back bends, and inversions (where a pose has you hold your head below the heart)—one after the other in rapid, flowing movements without much of a break. It also goes by names like Vinyasa, power, or power yoga. If you’re looking for calorie burn, this is often the best option.
In one study, researchers from Long Island University and Columbia University compared an hour of beginner Ashtanga yoga with walking on the treadmill for twenty minutes. The study found that Ashtanga yoga offered some cardiovascular benefits, increasing the heart rate to the level of a moderate walk. Intermediate and advanced classes provide even more vigorous exercise, but researchers did note that all classes are different (so benefits can’t be guaranteed across all classes) and that yoga shouldn’t be a stand-in for other forms of heart-pumping exercise, which is important for cardiovascular health. (Ross, 2010; National Center for Complementary and Alternative Health, 2019; Newswise, 2015)
Bikram Yoga
This form of yoga is performed in a heated room (typically 105 degrees with 60 percent humidity), and it’s often called hot yoga. Heat warms the muscles, allowing for greater flexibility and stretching. This is why Bikram yoga, which often runs through a series of twenty-six postures each performed twice during a ninety-minute session, has been found to be effective in increasing shoulder, back, and hamstring flexibility. (Bikram Yoga, 2019)
Hatha Yoga
This is one of the most popular forms of yoga and can also go by the names gentle yoga or restorative yoga. It involves slowly moving in and out of poses with controlled breathing. While not necessarily aerobic, hatha yoga does challenge almost every muscle in the body, particularly when you hold your poses for long periods of time. One study, published in the International Journal of Yoga, found that hatha yoga was better than aerobic exercise at improving balance, flexibility, and strength. (Hagins et al, 2007; Ross et al, 2010; Prado et al, 2014)
Iyengar Yoga
This type of yoga emphasizes physical alignment and makes use of bolsters, straps, blocks, blankets, and other props to help you get into the proper physical position. Iyengar can improve strength, stamina, balance, and flexibility. In one study, Swiss researchers found that people with chronic lower back pain who practiced Iyengar yoga had significantly less disability, pain, and depression after just six months.
Because they require you to lift your own body weight to balance, many yoga poses strengthen muscles and bones, too. Yoga also gets your blood flowing, helping to boost circulation. What’s more, research from the National Institutes of Health found that regular yoga, no matter what kind, can prevent and even reverse the effects of chronic pain. While other forms of exercise may trigger pain, yoga goes beyond that and actually reverses pain. These are all reasons why yoga works for all ages and all fitness levels—and why yoga is an exercise that most people can do for a lifetime. (Crow et al, 2015; Bergland, 2015; Vallath, 2010)
Simple Stretching as Exercise
Yoga is one of the best ways to stretch and increase flexibility, but it’s not the only way. Simple stretching at home can boost flexibility and range of motion, increase blood flow to the muscles and the brain, improve posture, and increase balance, which is so important as you get older. When done slowly and with gentle breathing, it’s also an effective stress reliever. Simple stretches you can try at home include:
Downward Dog
This yoga move stretches legs, hips, back, and shoulders, and is an effective opening exercise for all seven chakras. Start in table pose, kneeling on all fours. Align knees under the hips and hands under the shoulders. Then push your hips up to the ceiling to form a “triangle” with the body. Keep your head between your arms and straighten your legs as much as possible. Maintain your position as long as you can, then come back down into table pose.
Gentle Neck Release
This gentle stretch opens up a tight neck area and helps to open the throat chakra. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. Place your right hand next to your right knee, while placing your left hand on top of your head. Gently tilt your head to the left. Return your head to upright position. Repeat this stretch on the other side.
Chest Opener
This movement helps opens up your shoulders and chest and your heart chakra. Reach both arms behind you, interlock your fingers, gently pull your shoulders back, and lift your arms.
Side Bend
This move stretches the back and sides and is important to do when you hunch over a desk or computer for long hours. It also helps open your solar plexus chakra. Stand up straight, feet together and arms overhead. Clasp hands together, interlacing fingers and extending the pointer fingers to the ceiling. Slowly bend your upper body to the left while you breathe out. Hold for a count of five breaths. Slowly come back to center and repeat on the other side.
Butterfly
This stretch helps open your sacral chakra and your groin area. Sit on the floor, knees bent out to your sides, with the soles of your feet touching. Pull your feet gently toward your body.
Quad Stretch
This movement stretches the quadriceps or muscles on the front part of the legs, while helping to open your root chakra. Stand arm’s length away from a wall, while your left hand touches the wall. Bend your right knee, bringing your foot up behind you. Then grab your right foot with your right hand. Hold stretch for ten to twelve seconds, then switch to the other side.
Important Stretching Tips
Don’t force any movement. If you feel pain, stop there. Never push beyond the point where you feel comfortable. Over time, you’ll be able to do deeper stretches as your muscles become more flexible. But for now, if you force a movement, you’ll end up pulling a muscle and getting hurt.
Breathe into your stretch. Slow, gentle breathing in and out while you’re stretching will help calm your mind and relax your body. The more relaxed you are, the less tense your muscles and the deeper you’ll be able to stretch.
Keep your arms and legs bent slightly while stretching. This will help you avoid pulling a muscle while stretching.
Aim to stretch for about ten to fifteen minutes, three to four days a week. If you want to incorporate it into your daily routine, plan to stretch every night before bed. Light a candle or some incense or play soft relaxing music to help create a nighttime ritual that will relax you even more and help you to sleep more soundly.
Strength Training How-To
Aerobic exercise works the heart, which is a muscle. It also burns calories and fat. But strength training builds muscle, which boosts your bone strength and your resting metabolism, helping you burn more calories while you’re at rest. The more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn all day long. Also, the more muscle you have, the stronger your bones. These are good reasons to consistently include both cardiovascular exercise or aerobic exercise and strength training in your routine.
Strength training or weight-bearing exercise—using weights in the gym, doing body-weight exercises like push-ups, or doing strengthening poses in yoga or Pilates—is essential to building stronger bones. Here’s how it works: cells called osteoblasts are critical to maintaining your bone structure. When you do weight-bearing exercise, you’re stressing your bones in a good way. Each time you stress your bones, the osteoblasts lay down new bone tissue to strengthen the areas where the bone is stressed. Do regular strength training for different parts of the body and the osteoblasts continue to reinforce the bone, over and over again. (Layne et al, 1999; Harvard Health Publishing, 2019; Berkeley Wellness, 2019)
To get started, first check with your doctor to be sure you are able to do strength training without complications. Once you get your doctor’s okay, do some sort of aerobic activity for five to ten minutes to warm up the muscles, helping to prevent injury. Then choose a weight or resistance level that will tire your muscles after twelve repetitions. (When you can do more than fifteen reps without tiring, increase the amount of weight or resistance.) Plan to do two or three twenty- to thirty-minute sessions a week.
Some easy ways to add strength training to your routine:
• Wear a walking vest. These adjustable weighted vests can be worn daily to transform your daily walks into strength-training ones.
• Do body weight exercises. Push-ups are the easiest exercises to do. You don’t need any equipment and can do them anywhere. Start with one push-up a day and eventually add another and then another. Other good options include squats for your legs and crunches for your abs. These can be done at home before you shower in the morning or while you’re watching TV. One idea: whenever there’s a commercial break, do a couple. It’s an easy way to fit in strength training.
• Try resistance tubes. These stretchy, lightweight pieces of latex provide resistance and strength training when stretched. (The lighter the color of the tubing, the less resistance it offers.) You can do a variety of moves with these anywhere. I keep one at my desk at work for quick arm exercises during the day, in between patients. I find Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube great sources of moves and videos for different exercise equipment, including resistance tubes.
• Do free weights or try the weight machines at the gym. Dumbbells are effective strength training tools. You can do things like bicep curls to strengthen the arms and shoulder raises to strengthen the shoulders, as well as weighted squats to help boost muscle and bone in the legs. Weight machines at the gym are a more advanced way to build strength. I always recommend talking to a trainer first to learn how to use them so you don’t injure yourself.
Exercise and Your Health
Not only does exercise boost the mind, it also has tremendous benefits for the body and your long-term health. First and foremost, exercise has been shown to help you live longer. Researchers have consistently found that even a little bit of regular exercise has big benefits when it comes to your health. In one study, researchers at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom found that being physically active a few times per week was enough to lower risks of heart disease, stroke, and blood clots. Another study from the University of Utah found that just moving for two minutes every hour instead of being sedentary was associated with longevity and, more specifically, with a 33 percent lower risk of dying overall. This means just getting up from your desk or chair every hour for two minutes to take a walk around your office, go up and down a set of stairs, or take a quick walk outside and back is enough to prolong your life.
There are many reasons for this boost in longevity. The first is that exercise keeps your heart healthy. We so often forget that the heart is a muscle and, like other muscles in the body, you have to move it or lose it. A stronger heart is a healthier heart. Exercise also helps the heart in other ways, according to research published in the journal Circulation:
• You lose weight when you get moving. Excess weight puts undue strain on the heart, so losing weight is better for the heart.
• Physical activity helps reduce overall cholesterol, which has been linked to clogged arteries, and LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol levels in the blood, which contribute to heart disease. It also raises HDL (or “good”) cholesterol levels in the blood.
• Regular exercise promotes lower blood pressure. High blood pressure strains the heart and can lead to chest pain and heart attacks.
• Moving regularly improves the body’s ability to use insulin to control glucose levels in the blood, a risk factor for diabetes, which is also a risk factor for heart disease.
• It improves the ability of the blood vessels to dilate, which results in improved oxygen flow to the body, the muscles, and the heart.
• By exercising regularly, you can also reduce the number of hormones circulating in the body. Excess hormones in the body have been linked to diseases like breast cancer. By reducing your weight, you’re also helping to reduce the amount of estrogen in the bloodstream. Fat cells are able to produce estrogen; the more weight you’re carrying, the more estrogen circulating in your body and the higher your risk of diseases like cancer. As we get older, our body holds on to these estrogen-producing fat cells, making it harder to lose weight without exercise. (University of Utah, 2015; Cornell University, 2002)
• Exercise, particularly moderate exercise, has also been shown in studies, like one from the University of Illinois, to keep your immune system strong, helping you stay free from sickness. This moderate type of exercise (think walking, gardening, and dancing) is the kind practiced by the Ikarians, which is even more proof of its health-boosting effects. Exercise, both aerobic and strength training, is also essential for boosting muscle and bone. German researchers found that after the age of forty, up to 50 percent of muscle mass can be lost (a condition called sarcopenia), resulting in weakness and reduced ability to carry out everyday tasks. This is just one reason why regular and consistent exercise is critical as we get older. (Mann et al, 2014; Reynolds, 2009; Martin et al, 2009; Dennison et al, 2015; Keller et al, 2013)
• It helps you sleep better. Another reason moving your body has such a big impact on your health: it helps you fall asleep more quickly, sleep longer, and have an overall better quality of sleep than you would before exercising. It’s during sleep that the body rejuvenates and repairs, something that I’ll discuss more in the next chapter. (Dolezal et al, 2017; ScienceDirect, 2011; National Sleep Foundation, 2019)
The Body: A Potent Detoxer
The kidneys, the liver, the digestive tract, and the lymphatic system (a network of vessels and organs that run parallel to the cardiovascular system and are part of the immune system) all play a critical role in eliminating toxins that we’re exposed to on a daily basis—pollution, pesticides, and processed foods, for example. The body also produces cellular waste that needs to be removed as well. Lactic acid, produced by the muscles during exercise, is one example. Your cells also produce cellular waste products if your body is fighting a virus or infection or is under a great deal of stress.
In order to effectively detox, though, you need to be sure you’re drinking enough water before and after exercise. Drinking water (around eight, 8-ounce glasses daily) is important any time of the day because we’re composed mainly of water. Without enough water, the body can’t rid itself of toxins through the liver and kidneys, which are responsible for flushing waste from the body. This is why staying hydrated before and after exercise is even more important. Consider all this detoxification the body’s way of housecleaning.
Put all these pieces together and regular, consistent exercise throughout your life will help you live a longer, happier, disease-free life. Add exercise along with a Mediterranean diet, and you’ve got a longevity combination that is a win-win for your health.
The Importance of the Breath
Breathing properly is one of the central parts of any relaxation exercise, and likewise, it’s one of the essential aspects of exercising in general. Whether you’re doing yoga (when slow, relaxed diaphragmatic breaths are key) or running (when rhythmic breathing is important), the breath is what brings in the oxygen to fuel your brain and muscles. It’s what gives you the ability to sustain exercise. The more you move, the more oxygen your body requires. Slow, controlled breathing while stretching can also allow the muscles to relax so you can deepen your stretch while calming the mind. Shallow breathing, on the other hand, doesn’t allow the body to get enough oxygen. This can intensify feelings of anxiety as well as increasing blood pressure and heart rate.
Why Exercise Is Good for Your Skin
When you exercise, you boost circulation, sending blood with its oxygen and key nutrients to all cells in the body, including the skin cells. This increase in nutrient-rich blood flow gives us a healthy, radiant, post-workout glow. This boost in circulation also helps carry away waste products from skin cells and all working cells, helping to flush them out of the system.
Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario also found that regular exercise may also help reverse skin aging and keep the skin youthful looking. The study volunteers who exercised at least three hours a week (with moderate or vigorous physical activity) had a healthier stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the epidermis, and a thicker dermal layer. The dermis is the second layer of skin, where connective tissue like collagen and elastin—the structural proteins that keep the firm skin and elastic—are found. What’s more, the forty-year-old exercisers had skin that was much younger looking and was similar to that of twenty- and thirty-year-olds. One theory of the researchers is that exercise causes the release of substances called myokines, which trigger healthy changes in cells. Exercisers had almost 50 percent more myokines in their skin than they did at the start of the study. (Reynolds, 2014)
How Much Exercise Is Enough?
This is a question that many patients ask me when we’re discussing the importance of exercise. I believe that just moving your body as much as you can is helpful. But people often like a “prescription” for exercise, specifically how much they should exercise every day and every week. First, I always recommend that they check with their primary care doctor before engaging in any form of exercise to be sure that their body, and their heart, can handle what they’re doing.
I agree, though, with what researchers recommend. Most of the studies showing the positive effects of exercising use a guideline of thirty to sixty minutes of continuous exercise three to five days per week. The intensity of your exercise should be 60 percent to 75 percent of your max heart rate. (This basically tells you how much you should be exercising based on your age.) To determine your max heart rate, subtract your age from 220. If you’re forty-five, your maximum heart rate is 175 and 60 percent of that is a heart rate of 105 beats per minute. Seventy-five percent is a heart rate of 131 beats per minute. If you’re using a heart rate monitor, it should register between 105 and 131 beats for heart-healthy benefits.
If you exercise too hard (over your maximum heart rate), you’re straining, which is bad for your heart. That’s a sign that you need to slow down. If it’s too low, you’re not challenging your heart muscle enough to gain real benefits.
Making Exercise Fit into Your Busy Life
We all live very busy lives, making it hard to fit in everything we need to do, including exercise. Without exercise, however, all the other parts of the healthy beauty and longevity equation don’t work synergistically, so exercise is one part you can’t skip. Here are some tips that my patients have shared with me about how they find the time for exercise in their schedules.
• Do what you love. If you hate running, don’t tell yourself you have to get to the gym to run on the treadmill. That’s a sure reason why you’ll skip the gym any chance you get. Find something you love to do and then go out and do it. Haven’t found your movement love yet? Explore and try new things. You’ll find something, even a workout class you never thought you’d like, but ends up being a passion. Once you find that passion, you’ll find yourself wanting to exercise and looking forward to it.
• Fit movement into your daily life. Finding ways to fit in movement is easier if you incorporate it into things you’re already doing: walk to the library or park instead of driving, park at the end of the grocery parking lot and walk back and forth rather than snagging the closest spot, take the stairs instead of the elevator, do gardening or yard work, fit in some jumping jacks while you’re waiting for dinner to cook, or vacuum the living room or house. Add some of your favorite mood-boosting music to kick-start your energy.
• Walk your way healthy. Sometimes, one of the most enjoyable activities is to lace up your walking shoes and just get outdoors in your neighborhood after dinner, on weekends at the local park, or on a beautiful trail out of town. If you do no other activity, just walking for at least thirty minutes every day will rev up your heart rate, while you breathe in fresh air and clear your mind. According to the American Heart Association, you can reap plenty of health benefits from walking, including lowering your risk of heart disease, enhancing mental well-being, and reducing your risk of osteoporosis, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. (American Heart Association, 2019)
• Mark it on your schedule, as you would a meeting or a big event. We schedule meetings and can’t cancel them. Exercise is just as important because it’s critical to your health and your life. Book it, make it non-negotiable, and you’ll have a better chance of doing it more regularly.
• Establish goals. Figure out what you hope to gain from exercise (e.g., weight loss, improved health, reduced anxiety) and write it down, so when your motivation is waning, you can look at this and have renewed inspiration.
• Change things up. Even if you love what you do, if you do it day in and day out, you’ll get bored. It happens to even the most motivated among us. Change the course you’re walking or running on, and mix up your workout throughout the week. I personally find that keeping an exercise video or two at home helps you to mix things up, particularly if you’re crunched for time. I always keep these videos (including yoga videos) around for those days when I don’t have time to drive to the gym—or it’s just too cold to go outside, which happens often during the winter months. One of my favorites is a quick twenty-five minute full body workout; it’s perfect for time-crunched days because it’s fast and effective!
• Do just five minutes if that’s all the time you have. You’ll feel better having done something, and who knows, you may want to keep going after that.
Our bodies are meant to move, just as they’re meant to eat healthy foods. Do your body a favor, get out there and exercise. You definitely won’t regret it.
Where Do You Go from Here?
We’ve talked so much about de-stressing and finding your spiritual center, eating the right foods, and moving your body. It’s time to move on to the next step for a healthier, more beautiful you: sleep. It’s absolutely critical for your health and your skin. You’ll find out just why it’s so important for you, and how to get better sleep, in the upcoming chapter.