De-Stress For the New Year
Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to learn to relax? Do you suffer from fatigue, insomnia, sweating, mood swings, and aches and pains? These are symptoms of stress. Stress weakens the immune system and invites illnesses like depression, heart attack and cancer. 
Besides discovering the cause of your stress and taking measures to alleviate or decrease it, exercise can help tremendously. Some benefits derived from exercising are:
- lessening of depression
- disease prevention
- decreased production of stress hormones
- muscle building/body toning
- anxiety reduction
- an opportunity to socialize with others
- an endorphin rush–that “runner’s high”
During the cold of winter, it’s easy to put off that walk outside. But once you make that brave commitment, you’ll often find the cold invigorating, and you’ll be boosting endorphin levels. If you absolutely cannot exercise outside, head for the gym or go mall walking (not the same as mall shopping).
Start your routine with stretching exercises to limber up and decrease the chance of injury. After exercising, stretch again to cool down. Ideally, exercise most days and increase your level of exercise each week. If you’re not still sore after a couple days, the exercise level may be right for you.
Exercise that gets your heart pumping is good–walking, swimming, hiking, jogging and so forth. Also, weightlifting is good to build muscle and bone density. 
Get evaluated by your doctor before starting a new exercise.
Getting back to work after the holidays will vie for your time, but put priorities first. Realize that exercise is a priority. Good health depends on it.
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