Ease Anxiety with Exercise

Exercise – of any form – burns off adrenaline and decreases cortisol. The lower our adrenaline and cortisol levels, the less anxiety we feel.

I was lucky that I fell in love with the Les Mills classes Body Attack and Body Balance when I had just turned 20. Before that, I was completely exercise-averse. I hated how it made me even more sweaty than usual, and turned my very pale face tomato red. My extreme self-consciousness dictated that I avoid these scenarios at all costs.

If it wasn’t for my friends’ encouragement and moral support, I would never have had the confidence to go to a gym at that time, or even go for a walk by myself. However, after going with them for a little while, I soon felt comfortable enough to go even when they weren’t.

Certain classes can be ideal for people with social anxiety, because you don’t necessarily have to talk to anyone, and can “hide” at the back in a corner of the room. Plus, all you have to do is show up and follow the instructions the teacher gives you, as opposed to trying to come up with your own regimen.

For around a decade I went to at least one Body Attack and one Body Balance class by myself every week. Quite often I went to each twice.

At the start of 2020 – before we were locked down – I set myself the goal of walking for 20 to 30 minutes around my area on weekdays. I paired it¹ with phoning my parents, since I had moved out in 2019 and wanted to connect with them daily again. Being on the phone also helped to ease the self-consciousness I felt around walking alone, often passing dog walkers etc.

Once I became pregnant, my gym clothes eventually became too small, at which point I stopped going to Body Attack and Body Balance, and instead did only Yoga with Adriene in the house. I kept up my weekday walking habit until Aiyana was born; I doubt I’ll restart it anytime soon.

Once Aiyana was about four months old, I set myself the goal of going back to Body Attack, but only once every 6 weeks or so. I didn’t want to lose that part of my identity, but knew realistically I wouldn’t be able to go more frequently than that. I did Yoga with Adriene sporadically.

Last year, I realised that standing up in my kitchen to do certain types of work helped prevent my brain from getting “stuck” as much as it did when I was sitting down. I dream of one day owning a treadmill desk.

This year, as soon as I got my new planner, I added Body Attack at six week intervals, and Yoga with Adriene at four week intervals, to all of my monthly calendar pages. I also set a reminder on my To-Do app to do a short Yoga with Adriene video every Saturday during Aiyana’s nap, when I wasn’t doing a long Yoga with Adriene video, or going to Body Attack. I also made a list of the Yoga with Adriene videos I wanted to do, to make it as easy as possible to select one.

In this way, I have employed strategies 5 and 11 of Gretchen Rubin’s 21 Strategies of Habit Formation – scheduling and convenience.

Try scheduling in 30 minutes or an hour this week to brainstorm ways in which you could introduce exercise into your life - or add more, or change up your routine, if you already do some but aren’t currently satisfied. Use Gretchen’s 21 Strategies to help, and remember Don’t Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good. Make it as easy for yourself as possible.

1. Another of Gretchen’s habit strategies - strategy 18.