Do you find exercise helps with low mood/mental health and how do you do it when you’re feeling low?

[Littlemiss74]

Hi I’m really starting to struggle with things. Been wfh since March which was good to start but now isolating & boring. Diagnosed with mild inattentive adhd in August & have meds. Now struggling with ds13 behaviour, I suspect he may have it too.
DF in care home, and DM verging on depressed because she can’t visit. I’m also in ‘shielding’ group so am permanently anxious about catching covid which has been present at ds’s school.

I feel exhausted, overwhelmed and like I’m starting not to take care of myself. I’ve just had my first shower in a week. I am worried I am not giving my dc’s the attention I should be. I spend too long on my phone ‘researching’ things.

I know that regular exercise can help but how do you make yourself do it when you are feeling so low.
Would love to hear how exercise helps others with their mental health in the hope it might inspire me!

Thank you @FollowedMyDreams I think I’m at the
peri stage too. Sometimes I feel down but I don’t really know why. I just feel like I’m on a hamster wheel, juggling wfh with family stuff etc. It feels relentless. I think perhaps it’s been worse this year as there is no differentiation between work life & home life & I haven’t seen my colleagues in person for months.
I need to work out when I can actually do something without being interrupted. I think a walk first thing would be really good for me but I drop my dd off just before 9.00 and am then meant to be straight to work. I did manage it this morning though & it was lovely as the sun was out. I love the sound of hiking.

@Littlemiss74t - you sound like a very determined lady under all the things you have going on. Sometimes all you need is 5 minutes to make a small change. Any form of exercise will release endorphins which all help with MH. Though hiking outside is extra special for me :)

Do consider trying the smiling mind app: mindfulness works on calming down the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) which can end up in overdrive dumping adrenaline into our systems. By using breathing techniques it kicks in the para-sympathetic nervous system that helps calm everything down. I am in a completely different head space after one of these short sessions!

Good Luck! You have got this :)

I read this thread this morning at 6 am. Usually I go back to sleep after a cup of tea ans a wee at this time but today I wasn't tired. So I browsed Mn and this thread came up.

I'm wfh too and struggling to get up and wash and exercise . But I went to bed last night with a vow to walk at lunch today...

So I read the thread, it was still only 7 am, by 7:30 I was on my exercise bike watching Piers Morgan lay into the latest Tory minister that has dared to go on GM TV since Cummings went. I did 10k had a shower and was at my desk by 825, feeling great because I'd got that endo rush. At lunch I walked twice round the park and home again, 30mins and after work I got back on the bike and watched The Crown s4 and another 10k just sailed past. I'm now firmly focussed in doing this at least 3 times a week.
Thanks so much for kick starting me, I was a swimmer but lockdown and a dislocated shoulder ended that for now. I am determined to di it again tomorrow. I was more positive at work and just felt better all over for an endorphin dose.

I'm not here to polish my halo, but to say thanks for spurring me to get up and get going again.

Every year, like clockwork, I find myself in a state of decline in the period Oct-Dec.

This year I found a local group that does socially-distanced walking or running together, purely with the purpose of getting outside, moving and having company to do this with. It has been greatly supportive - I turn up, do my run (or rather the group slows down so I can keep up) and then home time.

I have also signed up for a weekly exercise class.

I know if I didn’t have the reason to go do exercise I wouldn’t. Yes, it’s been a bit easier this year, and I have found that completing the task, having a group I am accountable to, being outside or even exercising inside - has had positive benefits. I need to figure out how to keep on going outside while there’s a six week break. Some people have approached it as an appointment they need to keep for their health. Me time, essentially, but really prioritizing it.