Feeling a little down? Got the winter blues? Straight up depressed? I got somethin' for ya. Carry your happy azz outside and run just as hard as you can run for as long as you dare (which is likely about 10 seconds if you haven't done this in .. oh.. a decade or two).. walk til you recover your heart and lungs, repeat. Yes, yes, I know it's (insert curse word) cold outside but we're only talking about a few minutes here. Seriously! I challenge you to get off the couch and do something to make yourself feel better. If your knees are bone to bone (you know who you are), then walk as fast as you can walk, or get on an eliptical/stair stepper/bike, but do it. Your brain will go into overdrive releasing a bunch of chemicals that is the equivalent of a crack pipe high. Technically, it's all about endorphins and such. Google the benefits of running and you'll find all kinds of research about anti-aging / bone density / nuerological benefits, but the biggest thing is just that your brain feels so much better. Special note for you smokers and recent or not ex-smokers. I used to smoke. Even when I was going to the gym and working out, I smoked (I know right?), but I didn't really press the cardio stuff past about 40-45 minutes. Once I quit smoking, and started running outdoors, and for longer times, I realized there was a whole new area of my lungs that had not been acquainted with oxygen for a really long time.. and telling me about it! I about hacked up my lungs at the end of my runs initially, and would cough for an hour or two after. My ribs hurt and my lungs hurt. But I also realized just how damaged my lungs were from over a decade of smoking. It passed after a month or so, but solidified the fact that smoking kills. I hope you all stay with your plan to quit smoking, but understand when you quit, you're starving your brain of that "nicotine high" and you WILL subject yourself to depression to some degree. Also, because of the chemical changes in your body, you WILL gain weight, even if you don't eat more (unlikely). Exercise, particularly, strenuous and cardio types, is a critical component of success.
I just finished stretching after a solid hour on the treadmill. I did strides for about the last 10 minutes <- run hard for 1 minute, walk for 2, repeat 3x. Funny how I can do the jog for 45 minutes or so, feel really done with it, do a few strides and feel great. I think I'll try to add another 10 or 15 minutes jogging after the strides and see how that works. Theoretically, that should get me over my block.
I remembered today that your mind WILL follow your body. I learned that in my younger days as a result of my love of tequilla. Seems, 1 shot, your frontal lobe (judgment and decision making part of your brain) lags behind your body about an hour, 2 shots = about 6 hours, 3 shots = 12 hours, 4 shots = oh my, please tell me I didn't really do that! 8-/ I found that my body would do things that sans tequilla, you know, I just might not have thought a good idea. But a good lesson none the less. I really don't drink tequilla unsupervised anymore, but still, I know if I make my body tough it out through something, my mind will succumb eventually. Thus, stay on the treadmill, or jogging path for the length of time it will take to meet my goal and eventually my brain will understand that it's going to have to succumb and cooperate (assimilate?)
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