Four Pointers for Finding Time to Exercise

By Jamie Shapiro | June 25, 2019 | Comments Off on Four Pointers for Finding Time to Exercise

As a caregiver, exercise is a big deal. It burns stress, it helps you to sleep better, and it can help you to have the stamina you need to be there for your senior. But if you feel that you don’t have time to exercise, you won’t do it.

 

Stop Overthinking Exercise

Caregiver Wilmette, IL: Exercise as a Caregiver

What do you count as exercise? If exercise for you is an hour at the gym with half of that time spent jogging on a treadmill, you’re missing some opportunities. Exercise isn’t fun for a lot of people, so very often they get stuck in their idea of what exercise has to be and that’s the only box they can put it in. There’s a lot that can fall under the category of exercise, even if you only include moving more than you did the day before.

 

Use What You Already Do
You do a lot every day and chances are that a lot of those activities are physical. If you start to include household chores, yard work, and errands, that’s a lot of moving. Park a little farther away at the store and you’re automatically moving more. One solution that can help is to stop thinking about exercise in terms of workouts and break it down to something simple. That’s why fitness trackers and pedometers are so useful. They show you at a glance that this is how much you’ve moved today.

 

Make Exercise a “Must Do”
If exercise is optional, you’re not going to do it. That’s just human nature. Somehow you need to make it clear to yourself that exercise is not negotiable and that you must do it every day. When it’s a “must do,” excuses won’t work. This can be a big part of how you change how you look at moving a little bit more every single day.

 

Shorten Your Routine or Break it Up
If you already have an activity or routine you enjoy, you don’t have to do the full routine every day. You can shorten that time to fit your schedule or break it up throughout the day. It’s how you use those small bits and pieces of time that you can carve out of every day that really matter. You might even find that if you’re someone who hates exercise, you can still walk for five minutes three times a day.

 

You really can establish an exercise routine that works for you and that doesn’t take away from your time as a caregiver. It might take some time to find the exact details that work best for you, though, so don’t give up too soon.

 

Excerpt: How can you get exercise in as a caregiver?

 

If you or an aging loved one are considering a Caregiver in Wilmette, IL, contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786. Our home care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.

Jamie Shapiro
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