Exercise helps your brain work better. It helps you think through complex ideas, remember details, and just generally handle complex tasks with a lot more efficiency. Your body and brain just work better together when the blood and oxygen is flowing. Then there is the emotional component. Your brain is better able to handle problems and high emotions when you can think better. When your body is out of balance, such as when you are overly excited or depressed, mental health experts recommend some form of exercise because the right type of exercise helps settle your body and brain back to a natural balance.

It’s not a coincidence that people with energy and positivity are frequently active. Rather it’s the other way around. Being active helps them stay energetic and positive.

How does exercise do this?

• Exercise gets blood flowing and the oxygen in the blood goes to the brain. With more oxygen, the brain functions better.
• A better functioning brain remembers things more accurately. An active person can learn more and do more with what they know. It has a big impact on long term memory, and lessens the impact of aging on the brain. We’re not only talking about better memory now, we’re also thinking about better memory and brain function when you are 80 years old.
• A person who remembers things clearly and can think efficiently is more likely to handle extreme situations well. It doesn’t matter if these are emotional crises or needing to work very quickly in stressful situations. People who exercise regularly tend to have fewer true emergencies and live with less stress simply because for one, they prevent many problems by better thinking and two, they handle it better when it happens.
• Active people sleep better. Sleep is great for the brain. Your brain is actually still active while you are asleep and not only do you wake up refreshed, your brain has been doing some work while you were out and has helped you process your thoughts. That’s why people say ‘you should sleep on it’ before making a big decision.

If you consider yourself inactive you might also recognize that you find yourself stressed out and unable to control your emotions more often than you would like. You might also feel out of balance because you have many responsibilities and stressors in your life that you cannot control.

There is something in your life you can control: You. Arm yourself with exercise and an improved brain so that you can build a life with less stress and negativity. Once you start, you’ll know it is worth the effort.

Our previous post introduced burnout and the role of hormones in your ability to react to challenges and emergencies in your daily life.

How do you know if you could be in burnout? Have you done any of these recently?

These events and reactions, especially if there is a pattern of them, is a common sign that you are moving toward burnout.

Being overwhelmed and losing track is a sign that stress is causing some potential problems in other parts of your life. You don’t have to have a high-pressure job or be in traumatic situations to have stress build up. Any combination of demands can have the same effect: learning new procedures, being in emotionally-charged situations and being affected by issues and delays you don’t control are common stressors.

Why is this happening? The hormones that help your brain and body deal with these situations get depleted and you no longer handle these challenges as well. It’s hard to process new ideas and think quickly when adrenaline and cortisol are depleted.

If you are in the ‘small mistake’ stage of burnout you still have enough energy to turn it around. The key is to recognize it now.

Regular exercise builds energy and, matched with healthy food, can start rebuilding those essential hormones as your body goes back to a better balance. Any amount of exercise will help, even a walk.

The next post will list some of the things you can do when you don’t have complete control over all the stressors in your life.

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants and nutrients that protect our nervous system, improve eye health, improve skin health and bone health. They also boost our immune system. They contain such phytonutrients as flavonoids, lycopene, beta-carotene and Potassium. Their colour is determined by beta-carotene, a carotenoid our bodies use to create Vitamin A. 

Below is a sample of some meals that are bright with yellow and orange colour. 

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, cheese, orange and yellow bell peppers 
• Snack: Oranges and yellow apples. 
• Lunch: Yellow and orange peppers with hummus, Corn with a bit of butter, peach, water with a slice of lemon. 
• Dinner: Smoked fish, potatoes, fried yellow zucchini, honeydew and peach tea. 

A treat of the day are a couple of persimmons: An orange fruit that looks like a tomato! My absolutely favourite fruit!

What are your menu suggestions? I would love to see how you use these colours!