“We will all be in better shape when we care more about our insides than our outsides.”
– Nicole Porter –
Have you ever eaten something bad for you (a bacon double cheeseburger with an egg on top, a Dairy Queen Blizzard, or even just a little too much of something sweet or fatty or salty) and justified it by saying, “I’ll just work it off in the gym” or “I deserve this. I just had a great workout”? If you have, you’re not alone.
I spent a good decade in my teens and early 20’s believing that as long as I burned off more than I ate, I would lose weight, and that if I ate too much, I should just work out more. It made perfect mathematical sense, right? Looking back, most of my underlying health problems and injuries were a consequence of this (inaccurate) belief system.
When I worked in the fitness industry, I realized my clients had the same beliefs – that reaching their goals/staying fit and healthy/something like that was all about calories eaten and calories burned (calories in, calories out). Whether they were eating diet food or binge-eating then working out to make up for it, we believed in 2 big myths:
- all calories were created equal (100 calories of processed sugar is NOT the same as 100 calories of kale).
- exercise makes up for poor diet.
The problem is that most people are more concerned with the shape of their abs, butt, arms, chest, hips, biceps (and on and on) than they are about the shape of their liver or blood or brain and so on (a healthy liver, blood and brain are signs of a healthy body). Most people are more concerned about the quantity of calories burned rather than the quality of calories consumed.
The irony is that, despite our best intentions to get fit, our bodies will fight against weight loss as a way of protecting itself if other critical systems are not functioning in a healthy manner. On the other hand, when we start to eliminate internal and external imbalances in the body (when we start to reduce stress on the body), we see incredible benefits such as improved sleep, digestion, energy, mental health, pain reduction and healthy weight loss.
It’s time to shift the way you think about exercise. Here is our new mantra:
- Exercise does not make up for poor diet.
- Weight loss and weight management are more about food than exercise.
- Every minute counts. The “all or nothing” mentality that convinces you that a quick walk or light workout doesn’t ‘count’ could be what’s keeping you from reaching rewarding and long-lasting wellness goals.
This is about giving you a new appreciation for your body (inside and out) and helping you understand that when your insides are functioning properly, you give the outside a chance to naturally follow.
IT’S TIME TO EXERCISE FOR THE RIGHT REASONS.
If you’re like most, you exercise for these reasons:
- to burn calories,
- to reduce fat,
- to build strength,
- to maintain/lose weight,
- to de-stress.
These are good reasons if they’re done with the intention to improve overall health. Traditionally, however, our reasons for working out are focused on superficial, external results. Going forward, let’s introduce completely new reasons to exercise:
- to reduce stress-induced blood glucose,
- to strengthen your immune system,
- to strengthen your brain!
- to reduce pain and injury as you age, something you want if you’re 25, 55 or 95!
#1: EXERCISE MAKES USE OF THE STRESS-INDUCED GLUCOSE IN YOUR BLOOD.
An easy way of thinking of stress-induced glucose in your blood is to think of what physiologically happens during the ‘fight or flight response’. Visualize a lioness chasing a zebra:
- The zebra senses a stressor, the lion.
- The zebra must run to save her life.
- In order to run (move/exercise), her body instantaneously starts to break down tissues in order to access glucose for a huge burst of energy (glucose is stored in tissues).
- Now she has the glucose she needs to run for her life (aka exercise)!
In your day to day life, your ‘stressor’ might be short deadlines, a conflict, lack of sleep, dehydration, poor diet, financial commitments, etc. These stressors add to glucose in the blood. What’s one of the best ways to deal with your stressors (and use up that new glucose/energy in your blood)? Exercise!
#2: EXERCISE HELPS TO BUILD IMMUNITY.
In your body, you have a system called The Lymphatic System which consists of vessels, nodes and fluids that serve to ‘clean’ your blood and strengthen your immune system. How does it work?
- Lymph (fluid containing waste, hormones, fats, proteins, red blood cells, water, tumour cells, debris) is squeezed out of blood vessels and enters lymphatic vessels.
- Vessels carry the lymph to 600+ lymph nodes and other organs (spleen, tonsils, thymus, appendix) where they are filtered/cleaned of waste, tumour cells, debris, bacteria, infection.
- This filtered/cleaned lymph re-enters blood to recirculate within your body.
What does exercise have to do with the Lymphatic System?
The Lymphatic System has no pump. This means in order for it to move these toxins throughout your body, it requires muscle contraction (which acts like a pump) to squeeze the lymph along (similar to a toothpaste tube). This muscle contraction happens in the form of – you guessed it – exercise! On the flipside, this also means that a lack of exercise can aggravate lymph overload.
A lymphatic massage and skin brushing can also help with lymphatic circulation BUT YOU MUST SPEAK WITH YOUR DOCTOR. This may not be right for those with cancer, heart disease, lymphatic impairment or other conditions.
Your 600+ nodes also produce lymphocytes (helpful white blood cells) which help to improve your immune response and kill bacteria/infection. If these nodes are overwhelmed and overloaded, they’re not going to have the time or energy to produce immune-supporting white blood cells. Exercise to optimize your immune system so that you have a chance at efficiently beating the future infections and imbalances that may come your way!
#3: EXERCISE HELPS TO IMPROVE COGNITIVE HEALTH.
Exercise creates and strengthens neurons.
When you exercise, more specifically when you get your heart rate up like you would with a speed walk, run, cycle, or other cardiorespiratory exercise, blood and oxygen flow increases to your brain. This oxygenation helps to create new neurons and also helps the existing ones function better. This is known as neuroplasticity.
With more neurons and strengthened connections between existing ones, it can lead to a huge list of benefits to cognitive health. For instance, exercising 3 – 4 times a week can stop, or reverse brain atrophy (shrinkage) for adults in their 40’s and contributes to improved cognition and memory.
Exercise improves mood.
When you have a thought, your neurons pass messages via something called a neurotransmitter. Exercise increases production of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that’s responsible for mood. A lack of serotonin can lead to thoughts that are negative or obsessive, or contribute to you being irritable, sleepless, or depressed so we definitely want to increase production wherever possible.
Struggling with anxiety, negative thoughts, or depression? A 30 minute walk outside could be the simple action item you need to disrupt these stifling mental conditions. (If negative thoughts are interfering with your daily activities, don’t hesitate to speak to a counsellor or therapist.)
Exercise improves memory and learning.
Knowing that oxygen and blood flow contribute to new and stronger cells, it’s not hard to believe that memory and learning are improved with exercise. Researchers at UBC, found that regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, boosts the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning.
All of these improvements strengthen and shape the brain, helping to prevent or delay the effects of diseases like dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other age-related memory loss. Since your brain is responsible for everything you think, feel and do, exercise can positively impact every aspect of your health.
#4: EXERCISE CAN HELP YOU STAY MOBILE AND REDUCE PAIN AND INJURY AS YOU AGE.
Making exercise a consistent part of your weekly routine can pay off long term and help you maintain a high quality of life. Aerobic exercise releases endorphins which are known to improve energy, disrupt pain pathways (providing pain relief), and promote healing. Regular movement also helps maintain general body coordination and confidence in movement for the long term amongst aging adults.
Strength training has the most potential when it comes to improving the shape of your body, weight-loss and weight management. Strength training helps you lose weight because it increases your metabolism and helps you burn calories around the clock. What’s more, you don’t have to be lifting heavy weights (or any weights for that matter) to see improvements. Doing exercises that leverage your own body weight can be very effective.
Flexibility training (stretching) is almost always ignored yet it enhances the benefits provided from cardio and strength training. Flexibility training aids and improves:
- posture,
- mobility,
- blood flow (by opening your joints),
- range of motion
- muscle strength (by lengthening the muscle)
- injury prevention and recovery
- muscle tension and pain.
Having a balanced exercise routine is key. An essential part of my wellness programs require that participants integrate a prescribed mix of exercise time that includes cardio, strength and flexibility training. I encourage participants not to go all-in on one type of exercise. Going all-in on one exercise ironically doesn’t give individuals the outcomes they are looking for, creates more stress on the body and often results in injury.
Learn More: Fitness Resources to Get You Started
DOES THIS MEAN MORE IS BETTER?
The simple answer is no. Exercise is deliberate stress on your body. That stress can be good or bad. The right exercise program can positively impact cortisol levels but the wrong exercise program can negatively impact cortisol levels. When cortisol is increased, The Stress Response is activated, and the following happens:
- Estrogen goes up,
- Testosterone goes down,
- Anti-aging hormones go down,
- Growth hormones go down (bone, muscle, metabolism),
- Insulin goes down (blood sugar),
- Calcitonin goes down (calcium levels)…
Learn More: Find the full list of how the body is impacted when cortisol levels increase
You can end up with hormone imbalance or at least more stress on your body which can oddly cancel out some of the positive benefits mentioned before (memory problems, depression and more) and cause weight gain and fatigue.
- The wrong exercise is
- Excessive – hitting the gym every single day.
- Punitive workouts that leave you sore and stiff for days. Feeling stiff for a couple of days after workout is normal, especially if you haven’t been active in a while. Experiencing restricted movement for days following a workout means that your workout was too intense.
- Someone else’s exercise routine. CrossFit, marathons, hot yoga, SoulCycle – these might be right for your friend’s body, but maybe not for yours.. Focus on building capacity at a moderate pace. Not all activities will be a good fit for your body, and that is perfectly okay. Find activities that make your body feel good!
- Sacrifices proper form for increased weight or intensity. Whether you’re in the gym, at home or outside, exercise should always be done with proper posture in mind. Poor form can increase imbalance in the body, which can result in injury, excessive inflammation, exacerbate already poor posture, and add more stress on the body, which is what we’re actively trying to reduce.
- Not enjoyable. If you hate the treadmill, get off. Studies have shown that forced exercise actually DOES NOT promote the creation of new neurons of that neurogenesis I mentioned! Voluntary exercise, exercise you enjoy, DOES.
Do activity because you love it and because you and your body and brain will benefit from it. If you want to see more dramatic improvements to your physical health and wellness, hire a qualified Personal Trainer to help ensure you use correct posture and technique in your exercises.
👩🏫 Is your exercise program (or lack thereof) adding Hidden Stress to your body and keeping you from reaching your health and wellness goals? Take the What’s Your Hidden Stress Score Quiz to find out!
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