EPISODE 9: Joyful Movement-Exercise with Autoimmunity

STACY: Welcome back to autoimmune adventures. Today we'll be discussing joyful movement, number four in our Big Six. Today, we're talking about something that can often feel like a chore, especially when you're managing an autoimmune condition. So let's tackle exercise.

But what if we told you that movement doesn't really have to be dreadful? In this episode, we're going to dive into the world of joyful movement. We'll explore how to find activities that you love and benefits that incorporate movement into your life and the practical tips for getting started. Let's redefine exercise together and discover the power of movement to boost our mood and overall well being.

BECKY: I think most of us know that moving your body matters and that there are a lot of benefits to exercise. And some of those are that it improves our mood. It can reduce fatigue, which I know sometimes feels almost counterintuitive for those of us that are exhausted and already have fatigue. And it, sometimes it's hard to get motivated to take those steps, but even just doing a little bit of exercise, believe it or not, even if you're tired, doing a little bit can actually help reduce that fatigue.

Um, very importantly, it strengthens our muscles and bones. And it actually can improve some of the autoimmune symptoms that we experience. Regular exercise has proven to be effective, as effective, if not more so than a lot of medications for depression, even.

ALYSIA: Yeah, I think that's a underrated component of starting exercise because a lot of people suffering from autoimmune disease also suffer from mental illness.

Um, so when you're talking about getting your body movement, you really do want to focus on feeling good. And as Becky said, that can be a little tricky, um, if you are in a lot of pain, if you're stiff and sore, but this, when we're exercising. It's about pushing limits in a healthy way. Um, you don't want to push through pain, right?

You want to find things that you enjoy doing, things that are going to make your body feel good, but you do want to push yourself a little bit. I think we all, we all know, uh, if you push yourself too hard, you're, you regret it the next day and it actually can send you into a flare, or it can make you really sore, and it's kind of hard to recover from that.

So. That's the little tricky thing I think about working out. You have to figure out how to do things, um, that are going to stretch your abilities so that you do see positive, um, gains from your movement, but you want to do it in such a way that it won't negatively impact your body.

STACY: One of the ways that you can help yourself with that is to use resistance training and weight training, because if you gently learn how to do both of these things, it's going to be able to help your body slowly, but surely over time, those baby steps we talk about get to a place where you will be increasing your muscle mass, not so that you're buffed out, but just so you've got good, strong muscles to handle the things your body needs to do. It also helps you with your bone density, which is really important for people with autoimmunity. We have a struggle to keep track of the muscle tone and the bone density we need to be healthy and live long lives. So we have to think in terms of what can we do that will increase the things that really matter.

We're not talking about getting ready, ready for a weight training competition. We're talking about keeping our mobility throughout our lives. So if you want to, you can go to a gym, but many of us can't.

And so go ahead and try and get some resistance bands or small weights that you can just use at home. And if you are really strapped for funds, just remember that a gallon of milk weighs eight and a half pounds. So get creative and find ways to take care of yourself.

BECKY: And don't forget another good tip. And this might sound silly, but it's very true: take some time to invest in good shoes. Because a strong base makes for a strong body and happier feet. Um, honestly, there's a lot, if you have good foot health. Not just if you have autoimmune issues, but definitely, if you have autoimmune issues, it can go a long way into making the exercise easier, and making you feel better.

We do have some links on our blog, um, autoimmuneadventures. com that have some good ideas and options. If you really have some problems with, because a lot of people with autoimmunity have neuropathy or other issues with their feet, be sure to consult your doctor, or if you have a podiatrist. Anyone that you need to talk to about that.

Um, some of those specialty orthopedic shoes are expensive, If that's not something you can afford, kind of the options that we're giving are ones that we found are good options for like, arch support, and just good general foot help, but they're not terribly expensive so, uh, see what works best for you and maybe try a few different ones out.

ALYSIA: So when we're talking about joyful movement, uh, when you have an autoimmune disease, it's, it's likely that you will need to modify or adapt that exercise for your body. Um, depending on what your disease is and how it affects your physical body, it's going to be something you need to be mindful of going forward.

Um, I remember when I got diagnosed with fibromyalgia, my rheumatologist said to me, um, it's really important that you keep moving your body. He says, you're going to be stiff. You're going to be sore. And, um, your, your muscles are going to ache and your joints are going to ache, but you got to keep moving.

And I said, okay, so like, what are we talking? And he said, well, You're not, let's just put it this way. You're never going to be running a marathon and you're not going to be doing CrossFit. And I, I kind of laughed. I was like, well, luckily I've never had any desires to do either of those things. But at the same time, a little part of me was kind of angered and almost challenged of like, this is my body and don't tell me what I can't do, you know, but I really see that was coming from a place of wisdom.

Um, Because when I have tried to do things that intense and, and that, um, difficult, I have always regretted it - for my personal body. If you are able to do that, I think that's amazing, but be prepared to change your exercise to suit your limitations. You got to listen to your body. Don't push through pain.

Um, that usually will just end badly for you. One of the things that's really important is stretching, um, a lot of autoimmune disease causes those stiff joints and stiff muscles and, and, um, tightness. We need to stretch and that sometimes might be all you can do that for the day, um, depending on how you're feeling, what your symptoms are, but it's super important for mobility.

It's super important for pain management. If that's all you can do on some days, do it. Don't, don't, don't do nothing. There's something you can do every day. And I would say, the least thing you could do is stretch, right?

STACY: And it's something that you can easily do at home. So, we talk a lot about, Working out at home because autoimmune diseases do awkward things to you sometimes. And you might have excess gas. You might have nausea. You might just feel like complete crap. And the last thing on earth you want to do is go to a gym and embarrass yourself in public. And we understand that that there are days that that is how it is. So you have to find a way to work out at home. And some of us who have really severe autoimmunity, we might be homebound, and it's really uncomfortable to just try and get out of the house, so we have a few options.

There is a great yoga instructor on YouTube. Um, she does spoonie yoga and I think it's a great option. It gets that stretching in. It gets your heart rate up a little bit. It gets a little bit of resistance for your body to train without hurting you too much.

Um, you can use exercise balls. We talked a little bit about resistance bands. They are a very inexpensive way, um, for people who can't afford to go and get a weightlifting machine or don't have room for a weightlifting machine. Resistance bands are a great way to get that resistance and to build your muscle so that you can keep your mobility.

ALYSIA: Yeah. And I think that we all can do body weight resistance. We all have floors and walls and chairs. And if you just spend a little time online finding, um, people that show you how to do those exercises properly from home, the options are limitless, really. There's so many good resources out there. We just don't have excuses guys.

We really don't have excuses. We like to tell ourselves we do, but we don't. Um, even if you are at home, even if you are home bound, um, even if you hate going to the gym, there are things you can do at home, so, let's stop making excuses for that.

BECKY: Like a lot of times when we think we have to do a workout, we have to do a 45 minute block is what we've got in our mind or whatever. No, you can literally do this in like five minute blocks, 10 minute blocks, whatever is comfortable for you because studies have shown that even small bursts of exercise are beneficial.

The next thing we need to keep aware of is listening to our flares. Um, if you're, if you know you're having a flare, it is important to rest during flare ups and resume activity gradually as your symptoms improve.

I had a very good example of this. I have, as I've mentioned before, I'm recovering from a total knee replacement and I go to physical therapy multiple times a week and I was in the middle of a flare a few weeks ago, and was really kind of in bad shape as far as how well I was moving. And that particular day, my physical therapist just looked at me and assessed the situation.

She said, "You know what, we're going to do some stretches. Then we're going to ice your knee and you're going to go home." And it was that simple. And so it was nice to have somebody kind of guiding me on that. Cause I'm afraid sometimes I get excited about wanting to recover from my knee surgery and I usually could have overdone it. But again, listening to your body, listening to when you have flares. I think it's very easy, like Alysia was saying, to make an excuse of "I don't want to do this." If you're genuinely in a flare, you shouldn't be doing it at a pace you were before, but do those occasional stretches. There's there's stretches you can honestly do while you're laying in bed, there's things that you can do that are better than not doing anything, because really still if you're doing gentle movement, even during a flare, that will still help, and progress is progress.

Remember though, that pushing through a flare is not a good option because when you're having a flare, it really means that you need to modify or even sometimes take the day off.

ALYSIA: Yeah. We've talked about this in past episodes, the importance of learning to listen to your body. It is so important that you pay attention to your power bar, right?

Because exercise is going to take some chunks of your power bar, but as Becky mentioned, if you do it in small bursts throughout the day, it is just as beneficial as if you do it all at once. And it will also be less draining on your power bar. So pay attention to your energy levels and adjust the intensity and the duration of your workout accordingly.

STACY: And focus on being consistent. We've talked about this already, but just having regular gentle movement is a lot more beneficial than occasional strenuous exercise. And it is also significantly less complicated. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of a flare, my gradual gentle movement is going and thoroughly cleaning one of my rooms.

Like, okay, I'm going to go clean my bathroom and that's going to be my exercise for today because that's all I have in me. And I just give it as much oomph as I can while I'm in there, right? Cleaning up the room, trying to make it look nice. And I base it upon what my body can handle without hurting myself.

And so just, I, I try to be consistent that way because some days I'm not up for a full yoga workout. I'm just going to have to go and clean the bathroom because it has to be done. And it's a good way to get some exercise.

BECKY: Exactly, and, you know, we've mentioned a lot about a little doing a little is better than not doing anything.

But if you have not been doing any exercise, remember, you should start small and gradually increase so that you're not, I think if you haven't been doing any exercise and you try to get into these big workouts, in some ways you set yourself up for failure. Because when you have the low energy that often comes with autoimmunity, that's, that's a tough one, and so start small. Uh, I think a good way to do this is if you've ever heard the term habit stacking, if you have a habit that you do something you do every day, um, for me, the, the way that I did it with my exercise is that I know I always brush my teeth, especially in the evening. I'm going to brush my teeth every evening before I go to bed.

And so the the thing that I would say is okay before I brush my teeth I am gonna do this exercise and so if you already have a habit and you connect it, link it to, this new habit that you want to form, it actually makes it a lot easier to remember. Because we all get busy, and honestly you might have the best intentions of trying to start an exercise program for yourself and honestly just forget or have too many things going on during the day, so habit stacking is a great way to, to try and do that.

ALYSIA: So we've talked a little bit about the importance of moving your body. We've talked about adapting the exercise you're doing for your body and your specific autoimmune disease and your abilities. But we really want to talk about finding joy in movement, finding joy in exercise, because that's kind of our focus, right? We, we know it's difficult to have autoimmune disease. We know it's difficult when those physical symptoms are really getting to you, but you're always going to have a benefit to continue moving your body. That's always going to benefit you. So we need you to decide. You have to do this consciously. You have to decide to make exercise a form of self love.

Every time you go on a walk, every time you lift some weights, it's just like writing a little love letter to yourself. This is the only body we get, and no matter what we do, it keeps aging every day. It's a day older, you know, and it's age equals deterioration. And I know that sounds sad, but it's true. We all know it. So we have to, we have, the only way we can slow the clock is by keeping our body moving, right? Strengthening our body, keeping it limber. So decide now to treat your body with love by taking care of it. Decide now that you are going to make exercise Something that is a joyful thing in your life.

And for me, that is a hard thing to do. In my mind, that's difficult. So I have to trick myself into finding things that don't feel like exercise.

STACY: One of the things I absolutely love to do is dance. And when I'm at home, no one has to see it, which is great. I put on my favorite songs and I dance in my front room.

I have always loved dancing. And here's the thing that's interesting. When I look back on my childhood, I remember my mom and dad waiting until all us kids went to bed, and they would go into the kitchen and they would dance. And I remember years later talking to my mom about it. And she's like, sometimes that's the only time I had to exercise. Your dad and I started it as a means to give me a way to exercise during the day and still spend quality time together.

And because I have lupus being outside in the sun is hard, but I still garden. So I have a huge herb garden on my front patio and I go out and I take care of it every morning. And what is great about that is that means that I'm out and I'm doing and I'm enjoying it. And I love my garden and I love gardening. I love dancing. I have two little dogs and I play with them. And they keep me very, very active and very, very busy. And I love that. So anything that gets you moving and gives you joy can add to that.

Now I'm going to say you still should be stretching. You still should be trying to do some resistance work because you need your muscles and you need that flexibility to live a good life, but getting your cardio does not have to be standing on a treadmill. There are other ways to do it. So find something you love that you enjoy, that brings you hap happiness and do it. And it will make it a whole lot easier to be active.

BECKY: One of the other things that really helps is to have a workout buddy, somebody that can support you in your journey and encourage you. And it doesn't even have to be somebody that's on the same, the same exercise, uh, thing as you, I mean, obviously if you're going out in person together, you want to be able to do exercises together, but it can literally, I know for me, one of my best girlfriends, she lives multiple states away and we are accountability partners for each other, but we do it virtually.

And that is actually a really great way. If you have a friend or family member who can make exercise more enjoyable for you, whether they can go with you in person, or just be you can be accountable to them, There are also - if you don't have a friend or family member that can do that - there are some really great apps that can help you record what you're doing um, they can almost gamify it so that you're competing with other people, and you can pick people like virtually that are kind of on the same thing as you. So that again, you're not being like, "Oh, I'm going to gamify this, but I'm going against somebody who's a professional athlete and I'm struggling from autoimmune diseases." So, you know, so you want to, you want to make those kinds of choices, but finding somebody that you can do things with definitely makes it easier.

ALYSIA: And I think if you're a competitive person in any way, that's a gamifying your workout as a great option for you. And there's a million different ways you can do that. Um, but if you can't find a workout buddy, um, get yourself a good audio book, get yourself a wonderful podcast that you are interested in, or maybe your guilty pleasure on TV, and save those things that you really love to do only while you are working out.

Save those things, save your, like your guilty pleasure and, and on television, there's some really dumb stuff out there that I'm ashamed of enjoying on television. But if I say I can watch this stupid show while I am, you know, walking on the treadmill or while I am out, I prefer to walk outdoors with my dog if I can.

Um, that's just one more way that you can make the process a little bit more enjoyable. And I, I sometimes do say, I will not be listening to a B or C or watching a B or C unless I am exercising while I do it. And it's just a little rule I have with myself and it just one more way for me to say, "Oh, if I exercise, I can listen to the next chapter of my book, or I can watch the next episode of this stupid TV show that I love."

STACY: Yeah, rewards are always helpful. They're useful. Another thing that helps is if we explore low impact options because people with autoimmunity have pain. And if we're doing something that's low impact, it will be something that will be beneficial and it will reduce the pain we're having and it will not add to the pain that we already have.

So things like yoga, pilates, swimming is great, water aerobics, things like Tai Chi, they're all excellent choices and walking is the best and the most simple thing that you can do. And so, if you only take five minutes at a time, then do that. It's better than not doing it at all. And if you have to spread your 20 or 30 minutes out into five minute installments throughout the day, do it. That's okay. As you do that, your five minutes will become 10 minutes, and then your 10 minutes will become 15. And over time, You will be getting more exercise in one go, but it's not something that has a timeline. You don't have to say, well, if I can't do this in two weeks, I'm just going to have to give up.

No, most people, unless they're having a terrible, terrible day, can work out for five minutes, even if that's just doing some stretches or whatever the case may be, hanging out in the swimming pool with your kids for a few minutes, whatever it takes. So even if it's over the course of the day, broken into little pieces, it's still beneficial and it still gets you where you need to go.

BECKY: Another fun option, especially if you enjoy shopping for fun things, get yourself some cute workout clothes, um, fun head headband find, you know, like we said, some cute resistant bands, whatever. There's a lot of fun things out there. Get yourself a Fitbit to count your steps. Um, keeping in mind, you don't have to have any of those things to exercise.

But if you're somebody who finds that fun and feels like that would be something that would be good motivation for you, then, then do that as well.

ALYSIA: As we talked about habit stacking a minute ago, um, if you've ever read the book, Atomic Habits, uh, we'll put a link in it to it. I mean, in our, in our notes, but he talks about while you are trying to form a new healthy habit, the importance of making it enjoyable. The importance of making it, uh, easy to start doing - that one's a little trickier - and the importance of habit stacking, like Becky mentioned earlier. So hopefully some of the things we just mentioned will be applicable there for you,

Because if you, if you are one of those lucky people who just has always enjoyed exercise, I'm so happy for you. That's never been me. Um, so I do need these little tips. I do need these little things to, uh, and I know I do need to make this conscious shift in my brain to, okay, this is an enjoyable thing. This is good for my body. And, um, I'm going to make it as easy and enjoyable as possible for myself.

And those little things, having cute workout shoes, having cute workout clothes, some, you know, I don't really care when I work out, I, I don't care what I'm wearing, but some people that really might make a difference, you know.

We've discussed the benefits of joyful movement on your physical health, but there's a few other things it'll do for us. And one of those things is going to give us improved sleep quality. Regular exercise can promote that. And it, we will talk about that in our next episode, um, improving your sleep because it is crucial for managing your autoimmunity.

STACY: The other thing that it can do is reduce your stress. Movement is a big stress reliever, and it can help you to manage your symptoms. It will improve your overall well being, and it reduces cortisol. Exercise reduces cortisol, unless you're being crazy and doing something like marathon training - that will increase your cortisol. But generally, It is a way to reduce those stress hormones in your body and make you feel better.

BECKY: And it also creates a boosted, uh, it can boost your mood. We talked a little bit about that at the beginning of the episode about how it's actually sometimes more effective than medication for people with depression, but exercise actually releases endorphins, which are natural mood lifters, and those can combat fatigue and improve your mental well being. Um, and exercise genuinely can help with mental health.

ALYSIA: So remember that we've talked about how food is medicine, movement is medicine as well. It should be joyful. Find those things that you're going to enjoy doing because the movement you incorporate into your life, it needs to be sustainable. These need to be things that you do forever. As we've mentioned, um, self love, self care, is a lifelong journey. This is your one body. You always need to be working on keeping it healthy. So find things that you're going to enjoy doing, find things that are going to make it sustainable to continue strengthening and moving your body.

STACY: And listen to your body, because your body is going to tell you what you need. If you listen to your body, you can't go wrong. And don't be afraid to modify on days where things are rough. And if you have to, take a rest day. As long as you don't use it as an excuse to not get up and move the next day, you're fine. Because it's, it's, there are going to be days where the only thing you can do is sleep and drink water and pray that you feel better the next day, but other than days like that, you should be listening to your body and giving it what it needs, because guys, whether we like it or not, we need exercise. It is what lengthens our lives and gives us a better quality of life.

BECKY: And again, just remember that every bit of movement counts. So we've given you some, hopefully some ideas of ways that you can move and find joy in movement and exercise. We hope that if any of you out there have some good ideas, you'll put them down in the comments for us, because we would love to hear what you do to move and to exercise that brings you joy.

STACY: One of the other ways that we can move forward is to take number five of our big six, which is what we're going to discuss next week is the importance of sleep. Sleep is what helps us heal. It is that powerhouse that allows us to kind of like turn ourselves off like a computer does and reboot for the next day. So, we're going to talk about how we can get quality sleep so that we can reboot ourselves into each day. Join us next week.

We can't wait to hear what you have to say. Share your comments any experiences that you would like to make sure you like and subscribe and see us at autoimmuneadventures. com.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Spoonie Yoga: Gentle Yoga for Those with Chronic Illness - https://www.youtube.com/@spoonieyoga4503

Comfortable shoe options for exercise and/or walking:

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Sandals for walking - https://amzn.to/3YqNrlX

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*These are afflilate links. Using these links will not cost you anything extra, but as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear - https://amzn.to/4f1hyWh

*This is an afflilate link. it will not cost you anything extra to use, but as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.