3 Physical Care Activities that Promote Mental Health
Muscle Pliability, TRE, and Walking
These low intensity level activities are great options for boosting your mental wellness.
Here we go!
Two Peas in a Pod
I urge you to take care of your physical health. Maybe “urge” is not strong enough of a word! I implore you to care for your body. I do so because your physical health is completely and totally interwoven with your mental health. Research shows this time and time again. They are, unmistakably, two peas in a pod. They are one in the same. Pod Health was created upon the very philosophy of the interconnectedness between mind and body.
Additionally, I encourage you to bring mental flexibility in the pursuit of taking care of your body. I want to be careful with that word “exercise” because that can mean very different things from person to person. Rather, I like to use wording like “physical activity” or “physical care” instead because those come with less baggage for some.
The physical activity at Pod Health is flexible in nature. It’s not just about going to the gym 3-5 times per week. This is about the type of physical care that is focused on improving mental wellness. This is why our physical care activities include things like Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) and muscle pliability training and walking. These are physical activities designed for healing, recovery, and rejuvenation. And, because they are lower intensity exercises, more people have access to them, and they can be done in more places. These exercises are a gateway to more intense forms of physical self care like yoga and running and weightlifting and athletic sports.
Our aim is to help people open up more possibilities in their lives, and to allow for more options for actions of valued living. Physical recovery exercises like these help open up our lives to more options. More options that can lead us to live better!
Warm Up Your Body to Care for Your Mind
I often relate this physical care process to warming up. Like you warm up your car in the winter. Or, how a professional athlete warms up their body before a game. Or, how a band will warm up their vocal chords or instruments before a performance. These people understand that their bodies need to be prepared for the actions they are about to take. And, they don’t only warm up on performance day. They also warm up on practice days. Which is basically every day. This is something we can transfer over to our own lives even if we are not professional athletes or musicians.
Warming up the body does not have to take long, nor does it need to be complicated. A 12 minute walk at a moderate intensity is sufficient. Research backs that up. Just enough to get the blood pumping to all parts of the body.
Similarly, a 15-20 minute muscle pliability training session (aka. Foam rolling) will improve blood flow and oxygenation to the muscles. Further warming up the body and preparing it to do what you need it to do. And, TRE can help release any stored up anxiety or “fight or flight” energy that is trapped in the psoas muscle and other areas of the body.
Everyone Should Warm Up
Do you work? Warming up your body in these ways will increase your mental performance at work. At least rolling out your foot muscles, glutes, lower back, and arms will help keep you from becoming stiff in your chair. Providing a bit of a mood boost throughout the day.
Do you have kids? Chasing those little ones around can be tough on the body and mind. Warming up with foam rolling or relaxing with some TRE can provide you with that extra amount of energy required to be the type of parent that you want to be.
Struggling with high stress or a quick temper? Physical activities like walking and TRE are great for keeping your cup from overflowing. TRE, especially, does a wonderful job of calming the central nervous system. Therefore, making us less emotionally reactive in the moment. That could create just enough space for you to think before you speak, or to be more intentional about the action you are about to take.
Over the course of time, doing these physical health habits can help us create a sense of stability in our mood and our mental health. Plus, physical exercise continues to be one of the best ways to train up resilience. And we all can use more of that in our lives.
Take care!
Till next time,
Drew
