We all know that regular exercise or sport involvement is important for good physical and mental health. Exercise improves mobility, strength ands fitness, decreases disease risk and improves general well-being as well as cognitive, social, emotional and mental health.
Some people need to exercise for imminent health reasons but find it difficult to get started or keep going. Meeting with a Sport Psychologist at FOCUS Performance Psychology can assist you to explore the obstacles to regular exercise.
The World Health Organisation reports that many people do not get the recommended amount of physical activity per week to help maintain good physical health. People often report being too busy or unmotivated to adhere to recommendations. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
Regular exercise can promote good physical health by assisting with disease prevention, symptom reduction, pain management and recovery. Physicians and exercise physiologists may also recommend regular exercise to assist with recovery from injury, illness, injury or surgery however many people struggle to adhere to these recommendations over time.
There are many emotional, social and cognitive health benefits of exercise, including:
Time management,
Stress management,
Problem solving,
Reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression
Improving sleep
Enhancing general well-being
Providing opportunities for social engagement
There can be historical complex emotional and psychological reasons why health behaviour change can be so difficult.
If you struggle to maintain health behavior change, find time to engage in health related behaviours, become unusually tired, lack motivation, are anxious about change or may have another psychological or emotional barrier, previous experiences, motivational factors, self-efficacy for change or and confidence may be playing a part.