The benefits of regular exercise in relation to developing a sense of meaning/purpose.

[Fraser]

How Exercise May Help Us Flourish (Published 2021)

Physical activity can promote a sense of purpose in life, creating a virtuous cycle that keeps you moving.

www.nytimes.com

It's more of a interrelationship than a cause and effect, but I've found that, in my experience, regular exercise has been a huge factor in reducing my health anxiety. "Reducing" is the keyword here, since I still have and still suffer from significant relapses. I've also noticed that those relapses can overlap with periods where I stop getting enough exercise for whatever reason. Anyone else experience something similar?

 

[suzzeeb]

Pretty much the only exercise I get is forcing myself to the park and walking my dog on the trail. For me I think it is more being around others and just getting out of the house and out of my head and being in nature. Once I get there I'm glad but it's hard to feel motivated a lot of the time. After reading this, I think I will grab my dog and go now lol. I think there are a lot of little things we can do that add up to positive changes over time, exercise is definitely one of them.

I listened to what you posted earlier and found it very interesting. I have been doing guided meditations for probably 7 months now. I guess it takes longer than that in someone like me with a lifetime of over-worrying than in just a normal person with some stress. I have been doing it twice a day and will continue to and hopefully it will make a difference over time. Thanks for your informative posts!

 

[Fraser]

Pretty much the only exercise I get is forcing myself to the park and walking my dog on the trail. For me I think it is more being around others and just getting out of the house and out of my head and being in nature. Once I get there I'm glad but it's hard to feel motivated a lot of the time. After reading this, I think I will grab my dog and go now lol. I think there are a lot of little things we can do that add up to positive changes over time, exercise is definitely one of them.

I listened to what you posted earlier and found it very interesting. I have been doing guided meditations for probably 7 months now. I guess it takes longer than that in someone like me with a lifetime of over-worrying than in just a normal person with some stress. I have been doing it twice a day and will continue to and hopefully it will make a difference over time. Thanks for your informative posts!

One thing that I find difficult is taking what I experience during meditation and applying it to the moments in my life when I'm panicking. So while I might feel good or even-headed during the meditation itself, I sometimes have trouble making that relevant to my more general lived experience. One thing that I've found helpful in trying to bridge this gap is practicing the "box breathing" that I do during meditation when I start to feel myslef spiral. I do 1-4 count inhaling, 5-8 count hold, 1-4 count exhaling, 5-8 count hold and cycle through that. The counting helps bring my attention back to my breath and the mundane and cyclical nature of the activity helps to reduce my anxiety. Coupling that with avoiding Googling does help me. It's not perfect, or a cure all, but I can feel it starting to help and giving me at least a glimpse of what it might be like to be able to dismiss the catastrophic thought patterns that accompany my health anxiety.

Please give your little fur-person a belly rub from me.

 

[suzzeeb]

I feel the same way. It is hard to apply it when panic strikes! I think maybe practicing it regularly helps lower overall anxiety so maybe we don't over react as quickly. It sounds like it changes the brain if done enough. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.

I will give her a belly rub from you lol. We actually had a nice walk at the park!