Daily Exercise Goal

Many of us here and on other mood disorder forums have talked about the benifits of regular exercise for both improving and maybe even preventing depression symptoms. (During manic periods maybe stretching or yoga to calm rather than aerobic that can feed mania.) I hope that those of us who use exercise as part of our treatment plan can encourage each other here by sharing our goals and if we are reaching them.

My goal is to exercise 45 minutes before 8:30am at least 6 days a week with 25 minutes being aerobic.

I started making exercise a daily priority on Dec 23rd and began with a simple 14 minutes stretching routine. I have progressed to 35 minutes with 7 aerobic and have only missed a total of 5 days out 35 days! I plan on adding 1 minute of aerobic each week until I reach my goal of 25 hopefully by the end of May.

K

As a bonus, not only has my mood and sleep quality improved but I have less back pain as well. (I work as a CNA)

K

Does anyone else use exercise as part of their treatment plan?

I over-exhausted myself on the 10th and therefore broke my exercise routine. My mood has really sufffered and I haven't yet restarted my exercise routine. After tomorrow I should be able to cut back a little at work and hopefully get back on track with exercise.

I do try to use exercise with my treatment plan but it is so hard to get up and do it. Any pointers?

It helps me to realize that exercise is as important if not more important as meds for my health. It is the 2nd thing on my morning to do list. My exercise plan has 3 parts stretching, aerobic and yoga.

I only focus on one part at a time. I promise myself that if I drag myself out of bed and just do my stretches, then I can go back to bed. Usually after I do my stretching routine then I feel like at least starting my aerobic routine which is currently up to only 11 minutes. I take it just 1 minute at a time and allow myself to feel good about every minute I accomplish. The yoga is like the frosting on the cake for me.

If I do miss a day or more, I don't beat myself up over it.

Could you tell me more about your exercise plan? yoga and stretching and some aerobics are within my "doable" range when it come to exercises that wont hurt me too much because of my pain issues. I'd love for you to share more with me.

I start with a VERY EASY and relaxing 14 minute video Richard Simmons Stretching to the Classics. He doesn't say a word on this one. I personally can't take his voice first thing in the morning.

I then use a low and a high step. I started with just 3 minutes I think and now I'm up to 11 minutes. I also do about 1 minute of a couple of other aerobic exercises. I'll try to remember to add the link later that shows how they're done.

I finish with a 10 minute yoga style stretch cycle.

I just read an intesting link today at about.com that gives great tips on how to develope and stick to an exercise routine that will work for you.

Here is a link that includes some of the yoga movements I do.

http://yoga.about.com/od/yogas...

K

I've started to run. Me!
ok it get rid of some of the pressure and gets me in the fresh air,
I tried meditation, but my mind kept woundering, so i thought i would try running, so far so good :)

It's not getting rid of this excess engery i have but i'm getting fitter!

brokendown,

When you're feeling manic you might try yoga stretches with deep breathing that will tend to calm you rather than excite. I know it is very hard to slow down when you have all this super energy, but the sooner you can slow down the less deep the following depression should be.

Another interesting theory I've recently been experimenting with is
www.psycheducation.org/depress...

Welcome to the forum!

Wow--today, here in Northern Minnesota it was over 40 degrees, there was no ice on the road or in our driveway and we were able to walk the dogs. It felt so nice to be outside without two tons of clothes on.

I am having a really hard time getting back into an exercise habit. Today though I woke up feeling rested and took a walk just as it was getting light out. IT FELT GREAT!!!!!

The green dots represent the days that I have exercised.

k

Thank you so much for the link. :)

Since the one day Feb 10 that I pushed myself too hard and bottomed out, I've been really struggling to get back into an exercise routine. I finally resorted to taking 4 doses of 400mg SAM-e spread over 9 days and it seems to have provided the needed boost to become more regular with exercise again.