Teachers in Transition

Teachers in Transition - Episode 13 - Exercise for Stress Management

June 19, 2019 Kitty Boitnott Season 1 Episode 13
Teachers in Transition
Teachers in Transition - Episode 13 - Exercise for Stress Management
Show Notes Transcript

Along with staying hydrated, eating well, and getting enough sleep to feel your best and to manage your stress, you need to work exercise into your day-to-day routine. It doesn't have to be strenuous exercise, and you don't have to spend hours at the gym (unless you want to) to get the exercise you need to release much-needed hormones into your bloodstream so you feel your best and perform at your optimum level. Listen to this podcast with Kitty Boitnott for more.

Transcript is available here:  http://bit.ly/2ZDzHD9

Kitty Boitnott:

Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for"Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to"Teachers in Transition." Hi, this is Kitty Boitnott of"Teachers in Transition" and Boitnott Coaching. And welcome back for another episode of"Teachers in Transition.". This week we'll be talking about stress management strategies. And the specific strategy I want to address is the need to exercise in order to help alleviate the buildup of stress in your body. Now we carry our stress physically. It's not something we can actually see like a cloud over your head that says"I'm stressed," but you can certainly feel it in your joints and then your muscles, you may feel stiff. And, um, a sense of heaviness that is the direct result of the feelings that you're carrying around that had built up to create this sense of being stressed out and overwhelmed. And it can manifest itself physically by making you ill in a variety of different ways, including just making you feel stiff and uncomfortable. Uh, maybe achy all over like like you've got the flu even and it all boils down to something that's going on in your life that's got you feeling overwhelmed and when you feel that way, you're not generally thinking of taking care of yourself the way you would if everything were running along smoothly. That's why we need to pay extra attention to...I've already talked about the importance of staying hydrated and eating well and getting the sleep that you need. None of those things will help though if you aren't also getting a moderate amount of exercise in your day- to-day routine. Part of the reason you need to do the exercise is that it actually helps to work off some of the tension and the more rigorous the exercise, the more opportunity you have to generate and release certain hormones in your bloodstream that will make you feel better. Endorphins--you'll often hear of people who run on a regular basis refer to the runner's high. Well, the runner's high is the direct result of the release of endorphins, which is a type of hormone that's released into the bloodstream to give a sense of energy and elation and excitement and enthusiasm for life. You don't have to be a runner, though, in order to release endorphins in your bloodstream. A moderate walk, we'll do the same thing. It will get your joints moving. It will help to lubricate those joints so that you don't feel quite so achy. And the good news is, as I said, you can do moderate exercise. It doesn't have to be rigorous. You don't have to go for a five mile run every day unless you feel like it. And if you feel like it, you should do that. But if a walk is what you need to settle for, at least to start, go for that. And if you can't work in of one 30-minute, walk a day, take your walks in 10-minute increments. Research shows that you don't actually have to do a long extended period of exercise to get positive results from the exercise. That you can break it up. And even there is a body of research that talks about, um, doing intense intensive exercise and then doing sort of a relaxation. So you choose what activity works best for you. Now, some people don't like to just exercise for the sake of exercising. They'd rather engage in some sort of play or a game like tennis or racketball or, um, you know, basketball may be in the backyard if you've got some friends to play with, you choose what works for you. But we need to do something. Our bodies were made to move. They were not made to sit in front of the computer all day. And, and I know for me, I've had to struggle with this particular issue. My business requires that I'm in front of the computer for long periods of time during the day. So I have to be mindful about taking breaks throughout the day, taking the dogs for an extra walk so that I get in my extra walk as well. And I've even bought one of those rise up desks so that when I am tired of sitting, I can stand. There's some relatively new research that's available that says that sitting for too long is as dangerous for your health over, uh, the short term as smoking used to be. So, you need to alternate your activity throughout the day. And if you have a job that requires you to sit quite a bit, think about getting one of those desks that you, the Varidesk minus an offshoot of the very desk by the desk that you can lift up and then stand for a period of time. It's much better for your circulation as well as your overall sense of well-being. That the form of the exercise is not nearly as important, is as the fact that you need to do something to move your body. You need it for muscle strength. You need it for increased flexibility. You need it for, uh, increased heart and lung efficiency. You need it in order to decrease the risk of developing heart disease or cardiovascular disease. Moving periodically through the day will certainly improve your circulation. It'll improve your sleep at night and it will improve your brain function so that you can be more productive and creative through the day. So, I would encourage you to make a commitment to yourself. If you're currently not getting the kind of physical activity that you know on some level you should be getting, then I encourage you to make a commitment to yourself to start doing something, even if it's just 10 minutes a day. Take a brisk walk first thing in the morning before you get involved in your work activities; or take a break at lunchtime. Get a buddy to walk around the building with during your lunch hour and just take in some of the fresh air and the sun, which is also good for your health as long as it's not in prolonged doses and when you get home instead of flopping on the couch, which you may feel like you need and want to do, make yourself go for a 10-minute walk first and then reward yourself with some cats time. Keep your moving. It will pay off in the long run as you age and you keep your muscles toned, your bones stronger, and your mental facilities, uh, more acute. That's it for today. Adopt a mindset of being physically active; and I'll be talking with you again next week. Thank you so much for being here. Please. If, if any of this information which I alternate between stress management strategies in career transition strategies--if you're finding any of this information useful, please subscribe to the Youtube Channel and or the"Teachers in Transition" Podcast. Tell your friends about it. Leave me a review, shoot me an email with questions or suggestions for topics in the future even let me know if you know somebody that would be good for an interview like I did with Melissa Wolf a few weeks ago. I'm here to help an open to your suggestions. Have a wonderful day and a wonderful week. I'll see you next week. So there you have it, an episode of"Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to"Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at KittyBoitnott@BoitnottCoaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott and this is"Teachers in Transition."