It is perfectly natural to feel bored or even a little depressed at home during the pandemic lockdown; you may feel trapped or unable to carry on with your usual life. While this is mainly true, we may also see this lockdown as an energy cleanse and an opportunity to get rid of some of our daily stress. As with almost everything else, there is a silver lining in this situation. It’s actually an ideal environment to spend time on yourself, improve different aspects of your physical and mental health, as well as create new and beneficial habits that will help you throughout the lockdown and beyond.
A great example of how we can positively use this opportunity is to integrate exercise into our lives. While most of us cannot find the time or motivation to incorporate an exercise routine into our daily life, this period is a very good chance to finally get things moving and build a habit of working out regularly.
If you’ve never had a habit of working out and exercising, but always wanted to, this may be the best time. With daily chores on pause, you can finally focus on yourself and take up a healthy routine. And if you’ve already been working out outdoors or at a gym before the pandemic, don’t worry! Thanks to online video streaming services, there are many different ways that you can learn to stay active and get your workout done at home.
Benefits of exercising on mental and physical health
In these challenging times, we all need as much positive vibes and uplifting emotions as possible. Working on yourself and improving on an activity in a day-to-day basis is a great source of motivation and feeling of accomplishment. By taking control of our bodies and doing what is good for us, we can condition our psyche to be stronger and calmer during hardships. It is also proven that exercising causes our bodies to release chemicals called endorphins, which trigger happiness and boost positive emotions.
Exercising is great for keeping your body healthy; especially now, since working out helps your body flush out the bacteria and detoxes itself through sweat and lungs. It also causes extra activity in your white blood cells and antibodies, which in turn boost your immune system and makes you more resistant against diseases.
Here is a selection of workout tutorial videos that you can apply at home to keep yourself both mentally and physically fit:
Flexing
Increasing flexibility with suitable exercises prevent muscle strains and keeps the tension low on your body. It also has a calming effect on the overall metabolism and blood flow.
Cardio
Cardio workouts are ideal to detox your body through elevated ventilation and sweating. It also increases cardiovascular fitness, which in turn reduces heart disease risks as well as increasing the efficiency of your vital organs.
Strength
Strength and resistance training have multiple benefits such as increasing bone and muscular density, prevention of injuries and increasing metabolism speed. It is also very efficient at burning more calories if you are not happy with your bodyfat percentage.
Consistency is the key!
As with all sports, you need to be consistent with home workouts in order to see their long-lasting benefits. If you are not normally a physically active person, you may feel sore at first, but don’t worry. The soreness will be gone after the first week, when your body adapts to its new and active state. After that, it’s all uphill with growing and improving yourself. If you endure the first few weeks, the constant gratification of completing your workout routine and performing better than the last time will make you want more and more in no time!
#StayHome #StayActive
