{"id":32,"date":"2009-08-15T19:42:46","date_gmt":"2009-08-15T19:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jennifercares\/2009\/08\/exercise-and-caregiving.html"},"modified":"2009-08-15T19:42:46","modified_gmt":"2009-08-15T19:42:46","slug":"exercise-and-caregiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jennifercares\/2009\/08\/exercise-and-caregiving.html","title":{"rendered":"Exercise and Caregiving: Force It!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women in their 40\u2019s \u2013 60\u2019s are the most inactive groups of adults in the United States! Recent research shows that only about nine percent of women in this age group get at least three 20-to-30-minute sessions of moderate exercise a week.
\nWhy?
\nThe responsibility of caring for a loved one ranked as the number one obstacle to exercise and physical fitness. <\/strong>
\nWomen also blamed:
\n—the lack of time
\n—fatigue
\n—hard-to-make fitness class schedules
\nBeing caught up in the demanding role of a caregiver makes it easy to forget to take care of ourselves. When we don’t take care of our bodies and brains, we increase our risk—dramatically—for a variety of physical and mental illnesses.
\nUnfortunately, exercise is often one of the first, if not the<\/em> first thing we let go from our busy days. That’s just wrong!<\/p>\n

Exercise can make life so much easier! Getting the blood pumping, and oxygen moving through our bodies helps to melt away stress, tension, anger, and depression. Exercise also helps us to acheive better sleep, and boost our energy, alertness, and clarity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Medical research supports that even ten minute spurts of exercise can work wonders for long-term, positive changes in overall health and wellbeing. <\/strong>
\nSo—if you don’t feel<\/em> like exercising, I suggest you force it! Being a caregiver myself I know that some days it’s not easy to even think about getting out and doing anything for yourself…but those are exactly the kind of days when you NEED to get out and do something for yourself.
\nYou don’t have to spend a lot of money or time to enjoy the powerful results. A ten minute walk around your yard is all it takes for the brain to release endorphins—those feel good chemicals. You’ll notice you feel calmer, and more balanced.
\nChances are good that after just a few ten minute sessions, you’re going to want to do more, and soon it won’t seem like an effort to make a morning or evening mind-clearing walk a regular part of your day.
\nj.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women in their 40\u2019s \u2013 60\u2019s are the most inactive groups of adults in the United States! Recent research shows that only about nine percent of women in this age group get at least three 20-to-30-minute sessions of moderate exercise a week. Why? The responsibility of caring for a loved one ranked as the number…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-care-strong"],"yoast_head":"\nExercise and Caregiving: Force It! - Jennifer Cares<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jennifercares\/2009\/08\/exercise-and-caregiving.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exercise and Caregiving: Force It! - Jennifer Cares\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Women in their 40\u2019s \u2013 60\u2019s are the most inactive groups of adults in the United States! 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