What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

A Guide to Better Health
A look at how our habits impact our mental, physical, and emotional health.


At the age of 2 my grandpa enrolled me in my first dance class. It was a "Mommy and Me" class and I was more intrigued by the toy horses than anything else, but nonetheless thus began my lifetime love affair with movement. Exercise is a passion that has stuck throughout my entire life. There is no better feeling in the world to me than being able to push your body to the limits or being able to be so in tune with it that you are able to give it exactly what it needs. I have been fortunate enough to be able to translate that passion in to my two professions, ballet and Pilates. My professional ballet career lasted over a decade and in that time I experienced all of the highs and lows that goes along with performing. From the satisfying feeling when you have a great class, rejection, a skewed body image, injuries, getting cast in a soloist role, financial instability, the rush of dancing for packed opera houses and accomplishing something you never thought you could. I have known what it feels like to simultaneously be in the healthiest state physically but not mentally. It wasn't until the end of my career when I really understood what being "healthy" actually meant. Being healthy requires a balance of good habits and choices that better your mental, physical, and emotional states. They are all connected when it comes to our overall well-being and it is important to focus on strategies that will help them all at once!
 

"Move it or lose it!"

Exercise is my first plan of attack for getting control over my mood. If I feel like I'm in a funk I make sure to carve time out of my day to workout. Now that I have more control over my schedule it was a no brainer that I needed to make my workouts a priority for my mental health. Exercising for just 30 minutes a day is statistically proven to boost your mood. For me exercise puts a pause on all of the thoughts that are causing me anxiety. It's the easiest way for me to disrupt rumination by allowing me to focus on the movement rather than those plaguing thoughts. For this reason exercise is statistically proven to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression. I think this also goes without saying that exercise has a slew of other benefits as well. According to the Harvard Health Publishing, not only does it reduce your stress levels it also:

"improves cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, helps control body weight, and protects against a variety of diseases. But does it help to boost your immune system naturally and keep it healthy? Just like a healthy diet, exercise can contribute to general good health and therefore to a healthy immune system. It may contribute even more directly by promoting good circulation, which allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move through the body freely and do their job efficiently."

As we all know boosting our immune system is critical right now, and trust me I know better than almost everyone that the thought of only being able to workout at home was a bit daunting at first, but there are plenty of ways that you can get an effective workout at home that will give you all of those same benefits health wise.  Here are some suggestions of what you can do during quarantine:

• I know first hand (as I'm offering them myself) that the Pilates community has a plethora of free and or cost effective options for your at home/virtual workouts. Go follow your favorite instructor on social media or message them directly for sessions. Pilates doesn't require equipment and is a non impactful way to get an amazing full body workout!
• Get outside for a walk. If you can do this in addition to your workout even better! Getting outside will also break up the temptation to ruminate and sit with your thoughts. 
• Run, bike, or hike outside (weather permitting).
• Take your cardio workout outside or do a quick Tabata workout at home. These workouts are so effective that you only need 15 minutes and you'll be getting your heart rate up and those endorphins kicking in!

In addition to all of the benefits I've already mentioned, exercise will also improve your sleep. According to an article by healthline.com (linked below for reference) studies show that getting 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise improves your sleep quality by 65%! (Guess I'm going to add in that extra walk with Theo after all!)

Sleep

Having good sleep habits is one of the pillars of healthy living and I believe the most neglected. We have this notion that we're going to "catch up on sleep eventually", well unfortunately you actually can't do that. Just because you get one good night's sleep out of 6 days of poor quality sleep does not mean you've caught up, you are actually still in fact sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation over time can lead to:

• memory loss
• weakened immune system
• trouble with thinking 
• weight gain
• higher risk for accidents
• higher risk of heart disease and diabetes

Remember all of those wonderful benefits that we just spoke about that exercise brings you, well you're negating all of them if you aren't getting a good night's sleep! If you're like me your sleep schedule has been severely impacted by this pandemic and the shift to working from home. I constantly feel like I'm in a perpetual state of the "Sunday scaries". The news gives me anxiety but so does living alone and fearing the safety of my friends and family near and far. I definitely do not have a hard time falling asleep (I know shocking news if you've ever watched any sort of show with me!...not) but staying asleep and not checking my phone has been a challenge. I've started implementing the following better sleep habits in order to help combat this though:

• No technology right before bed. Journal instead so that you can get all of your thoughts and fears out that way (we'll touch upon this more later). 
• No alcohol on nights where you're trying to get the best quality sleep.
• No caffeine right before bed.
• No eating right before bed.
• If you're tempted to check your technology in the middle of the night put your phone out of reach. 
• If you want to track your progress download a sleep tracking app and notice your mood after a good night's sleep.
• Stick to your normal routine. Even if you're working from home act like you're not. Set the alarm for the same time you used to get ready and head to bed at a time that allows you to get the recommended 7-8 hours of good quality sleep!

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

What seems to be the most necessary pillar to address is ways to improve your mental health. As you've seen both exercising and better sleep habits will increase your mood and mental state significantly, but improving our mental state needs to be the impetus to add those habits in to our routines not just a nice bi-product. For so long I neglected addressing my emotional health. I had my dream job and I thought that was enough. I ate well and exercised more than enough, but still was plagued by my thoughts and fears. As I mentioned, it was only a couple of years ago that I really started to pick at the habits that were detrimental to my state of mind. In my previous post I touched upon coping mechanisms. While exercise is a no brainer for me, working on improving my sleep has been a challenge because there simply weren't enough hours in the day before and now with the added uncertainties it's harder to feel calm when I get to bed. The beautiful thing about this time though is that it's really (hopefully) forcing all of us to reprioritize our lives and even though it doesn't seem like it now it can ultimately lead to a lot of personal growth. When it comes to mental health, being able to turn to those closest to us for support is imperative. In Sonja Lyubomirsky's "The How of Happiness" she referenced a study done on widows and widowers and those that reached out to people immediately after their loss saw a boost in their immune systems and overall health. Some other great habits that can help improve your mental health are:

• Strengthening your social connections by calling those closest to you and telling them about an experience or better yet sharing an experience with them. Also be careful of not providing unsolicited advice to your friends (remember that goes both ways).
• Showing and expressing gratitude - By writing or better yet having a gratitude visit with a friend where you read to them why you're thankful for them. 
• Expressively writing 3-4 times per week - This will help you organize your thoughts in a cohesive manner. It also may result in you thinking of things in a causal manner. When an experience has more structure it is more manageable. 
• Thought disputation -  Challenging your own pessimistic thoughts
1.  Write down the nature of the adversity you're facing.
2.  State your negative beliefs about it.
3. What are the consequences of the problem?
4. Dispute your negative beliefs and see if there could be any other possibilities (i.e. could the opposite be true if not truer).

All of these habits will leave you feeling more energized and hopeful. What we are all going through is unprecedented and extremely challening, but because we have endured this we will have a renewed belief in our ability to prevail afterwards. In the end "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and this will lead us to all be more resourceful and resilient. I can't wait to see the more joyful and empathetic versions of ourselves that we can (and will) become! 

Resources:

Exercise
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-benefits-of-exercise#section1

Sleep
https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/coronavirus-trouble-sleeping.html?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social_acct&utm_campaign=nym&utm_content=nym&utm_term=curalate_like2buy_K7xsY9mK__e5f8f585-f052-4494-876b-b22924e66b72

Mental health
https://furthermore.equinox.com/articles/2020/02/behavioral-flexibility

"The How of Happiness" by Sonja Lyubomirsky