exercise

[andrewjdavid2005]

I was wondering whether running up and down the garden for half an hour a day is classed as intense exercise and whether it would do me any good? how much does exercise help anxiety? and how long does it take for the exercise to have a beneficial effect on anxiety? because when i have exercised before i have never felt any different instantly.
Does it take a week or afew weeks or months?

The thing is i have a new symptom lately that is worrying me it is something i have never experienced before.
I feel like someone is putting there hand over there mouth and is smothering me/suffocating me or something and feels like i am breathing in hot air all the time, i have had this symptom about a week and it seems to be around all the time it never goes away and i am wondering whether it is down to anxiety or whether it is down to something else or something more serious or life threatening etc.

[jackie]

sounds like anxiety to me, andrew.


also most people think exercise works wonders esp yoga, but it is like everything i suppose it needs time to work,. it doesnt matter what you do, you could rigorously clean the house or run about frantically after 5 kids all day, exercise comes in all forms. but i genuinely feel the more calmer the form the better and i can honestly say i was never fitter than when i was doing yoga and i used to cycle swim and jog.

hope this helps

jackie

[chop]

I am struggling at the moment too but I had a great time about a month ago with most of my symptoms dissapearing amazingly. It was attributed to many things I was trying but one thing that definately did help was exercise. It did take about 3 weeks of running 3-4 times a week for 20-30 mins though.

They actually say exercise is as beneficial to depression after 4-6 weeks as anti depressant medications in a lot of cases, especially older people.

Anyway, exercise does help with anxiety with me. It is hard to doa t times and dont over do it but in the long run, I think you will feel better. It does take some time to get the full effects though. P.S. The longer or more intense the exercise or the more regular, I feel the benefits are longer lived (days rather than hours).

P.P.S remember to breathe properly during exercise as I think that teaches you to breathe deeply again and becomes second nature and also helps. Also remember that initially after exercise you can feel worse as it feels like anxiety but its actually just the effects of your body exercising and dont worry about the feelings... Its just exercise - not anxiety!

Cheers
Paul

[andrewjdavid2005]

Thanks for the replies jackie and chop i am going to try and do more exercise from now on and see if it makes any difference, i really want to see if adecent amount of exercise everyday will make any difference to how i feel i also want to lose some weight as well so i will definately do more :)

[heavymind]

Hi,
I am not sure, if a lot of intense exericse is really required. I feel doing some exercise to the level that we feel satisfied should be enough. It depends on each of our stamina level. For me very short 10mins run is enough to exhaust me, but some really fit people can run much much more than that. But I think is more about getting the heart pumping faster for some time and sweating a bit. I am not sure, if I am communicating exactly what I am trying to say. What I am saying is just a little bit of aerobic exercise to keep the heart pumping at a faster rate for some time is something that can help quite well. Intense repeated exercising is not required, unless the aim is to win olympics. :-)

Regards,

Ram

[chop]

True, it depends on how much is enough for each person. I guess I am slim and young and fit so maybe 30 mins is the same as 10 for others and some could do 3 times what I do etc.

Dont over-do-it, we are all different.

There are most likely some people who can do 1.5 hours before quitting but I cant so the more you can do without exhausting yourself the better I think (I should have said it that way lol)

Cheers
Paul

Learning to underreact