It's The Fatigue......

[Gerry2020]

How can we exercise when we are always so TIRED.......................

[funnyfennel]

I think that finding a place nearby to walk on level ground is important, so that you can go there whenever you do have a little energy. Also stretching, even whilst sitting on the couch is useful. You must try to design some easy exercises to suit you and do them when you can. I try not to exercise in too late in the day. Best of luck to you.

[linlow]

Exercise is grand.  It can have so many benefits: it releases endorphins, spreading that wonderful feel good factor that make you feel pleased with yourself; it gets your blood pumping, delivering oxygen and removing the toxins that can be so debilitating as they build up in your various organ tissues; it improves digestion, co-ordination and dexterity; it tightens and/or builds muscles, giving your body better form; it makes you healthier and extends your life.  Plus it doesn't just improve the muscles you can see, it effects your brain muscles too improving outlook and clarity of mind.  Exercise is one of those self-perpetuating things, the more you do the more you can do, so it is an utter and absolute tragedy when you don't even have the energy to walk across the room let alone round the block.

How, then, can we exercise when we are so tired?

Little steps.  Little and often.  Everyone has household chores to do (well nearly everyone) so use these.  You have a bag of groceries to put away - don't take the bag to the cupboard, leave it on the other side of the room and carry one item at a time to its final destination.  You have washing to go out on the line - don't carry the laundry basket outside, take out just one item and its pegs then come back for the next.  You have a pile of ironing and a loo roll to take upstairs - make two trips.  The phone rings - don't just reach across and pick it up, stand up and remain standing, even prowling, whilst you hold your conversation.  You have to stand at the cooker to stir a pan - don't slouch, use it as an opportunity to do some stepping, raising one foot at a time till your knee touches the oven or just raise yourself onto tip-toe and back down or even clench your buttocks and make them 'dance' as you stand there.  Move everything you use on a regular basis out of reach so that you have to physically move to be able to use it - phone on the other side of the room, tea/coffee on the top shelf not the counter, sugar on a different top shelf, toothbrush in the bedroom not the bathroom, baked beans in a different cupboard so you have to go searching when you want them.  If you stop for a coffee break, don't have it sitting, stand up and move around.  When the adverts come on on the telly stand up and walk around the room, or even just shake your arms and legs.  Never sit for more than 40 minutes (unless confined to a wheel chair when, even so, you should try to move every muscle group you can) before getting up and moving every muscle group.

Turn it into fun.  You have to go upstairs - don't just trudge, put some music on and use the beat to step up/step down so by the time you get to the top you have done twice/three times the number of steps.  Set yourself a (sensible) number of tasks to get through in a day and, if you make it, give yourself a reward - if you don't then nominate someone else to pass the reward on to.  Get someone else to do things with you, sharing and conversation can distract attention so you do more before the tiredness overwhelms.

Start the day off as you mean to go on.  When you wake and before you rise stretchhhh.  Stretch everything: from your toes to your fingertips to the top of your head; stretch every muscle, one group at a time, and hold to a count of 5 before relaxing and going on to the next; even try to stand your eyes on stalks, if you can.  Clench your buttocks, one at a time and/or together.  Tighten the inner muscles of your thighs and hold.  Tighten your abdomen as tight as possible, trying to make your belly button touch your backbone, then relax.  Now try to tighten it halfway and hold.  Then, at the same time with legs together, bend your knees and roll them from side to side trying not to let your hips move.  Again with knees bent and tummy half tightened, drop your legs apart until they are as flat as you can get them without straining anything.  Much of this can be done standing or sitting at various times during the day too - never waste the time you spend standing in a queue.

**First and foremost** - learn to breathe!!  Breathing comes naturally, once we have taken our first breath, just watch a newborn as it pops into the world for an object lesson.  But it is a sad fact of life, and just about everyone out of nappies is guilty of this, we take the easy way out of using secondary respiration muscles and doing the absolute barest minimum necessary to avoid unconsciousness.  There are all sorts of reasons for this be it tight waistbands, poorly designed workstations, stress etc but, whatever they are, they all lead to inadvertent long-term harm.  Just count the number of times you breathe in a minute.  For most people this will amount to 20 or more short sharp intakes but healthy breathing will reduce this to around 8 - the deeper you breathe the fewer breaths you need (I have seen it said that the average person breathes a set number of times in a lifetime so fewer breaths/longer life sounds good to me).  Breathing properly draws more oxygen into the lungs.  More oxygen leads to more energy, better organ function, proper hormone production, greater clarity of thought and much, much more.  There is an abundance of information on this easily available on the internet and some great videos on youtube (Theo Simon or Cain Carroll are a good start) but make sure you check out a few (some of them are a bit suspect).  Two links I have bookmarked are sparkpeople.com/resource/we... and selfication.com/how-to-brea...

[Kaarina Administrator in reply to linlow]

Hi linlow

I agree exercise is grand.  I am well aware of the merits of exercising as people are on here too. It takes up a good part of our life. When one has not slept properly for days, weeks or longer and have to carry on depending what commitments one has in one's life, it is not always a breeze to exercise because we are utterly exhausted. 

RLS sufferers know all about exercising.  That is what we do when we cannot bear the RLS symptoms. We have to move around whatever time the clock says.

Do you suffer with RLS?

Kaarina

[linlow in reply to Kaarina]

Hi Kaarina, no, though it was one of the many things investigated when I eventually managed to get my GP's involvement after years of trying.  But it turned out that rls wasn't the problem.  The primary diagnosis they came up with amongst my many 'falling to pieces' symptoms was cfs - so I can so totally empathise with Gerry2020's desperation over exercising whilst tired.

You may well be aware of the merits of exercising as I am sure that Gerry2020 is too, I took that as the reason for opening this post.  One that I came across whilst running at a search on fatigue from the HealthUnlocked homepage, to see how others cope.  But the question was how to exercise when tired.  Since it hadn't garnered much in the way of response, and knowing full well the detrimental impact lack of it is having on my health, rather than leave someone else feeling neglected I thought I'd update the post with my two penn'orth on ways I try to work even a limited amount of exercise into improving my daily life.

From a personal perspective, in my healthy years I never stopped exercising in one form or another from dawn to dusk - be it gym (3 days a week), lunchtime walks (5 days a week), walking the dog (7 days a week), gardening/housework/hobbies (umpteen days a week) etc.  Nowadays 'well-meaning' people keep telling me to 'go for a walk', as the other respondent here did, or 'why not take up swimming' or.... but how am I supposed to do that any of that when, on an average day, I might not even be able to go put the kettle on let alone my coat?  It was that desperation I was responding to.

[Gerry2020 in reply to linlow]

I agree 100%.........One step at a Time................