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What Do You Need to Know about Exercise as a Caregiver? 

January 30, 2019
Lenora Alabi
Exercise is definitely something that you need to do regularly as a caregiver, but some of the rules that you might have followed in the past don’t necessarily apply now. You’re going to do a lot better in establishing an exercise routine if you give yourself some leeway.

Listen to What Your Body Is Telling You

So often people begin working out and believe that old statement about how if there’s no pain, then there’s no gain. But your body doesn’t need to experience pain in order for you to benefit from exercising. In fact, if you’re in pain, that’s your body communicating with you. Don’t push yourself to do more than you can do. There’s always a different type of exercise or a lower intensity that you can try.

There’s a Different Ideal Workout for Every Body

Just because the popular workout is one type of activity, that doesn’t mean you have to do that. You should experiment and try a few different activities to find out what you enjoy and what your body likes doing. That might be walking or it might mean water aerobics. There’s no right answer other than what helps you to stick with exercise on a regular basis.

Open in full sizeExercise Doesn’t Have to Be about Benching a Certain Weight

With all of that in mind, you don’t have to hit a certain target to be successful. For instance, if you like lifting weights, you can stick with the lighter free weights for as long as you enjoy it. There’s no rule that says you have to work your way up to massive weights in order to be successful with lifting weights. What matters is that you’re doing something you can stick with for the long run.

Evolve Your Exercise Routine

What you enjoyed and what your body could do when you were a young adult or a teenager may be different from what you can do now. Evolve your workout so that you aren’t putting stress on your body that it doesn’t need. You might even want to consider trying activities that you’ve never tried before until you find the activity that really speaks to you.

Working out is definitely good for you. But if it’s giving you too much stress, then simply focus on moving more often. Adding more stress to your life as a caregiver defeats the purpose of so much of what you do with the rest of your time. Be gentle with yourself.

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE ARE CONSIDERING HIRING CAREGIVERS IN GOLD COAST, IL, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT BRIGHTSTAR CARE CHICAGO. CALL TODAY: 312.382.8888.