How to Use Exercise to Get Through Grief

Grief, similar to depression, can become one of the most debilitating feelings you will ever experience. It can make you feel like you have absolutely no energy and like you have no motivation to do anything other than lay in bed. At the same time, it can cause issues with sleep and eating - many people dealing with grief either end up sleeping too often to escape the pain, or being unable to sleep enough. A lot of us also tend to either want to turn to comfort food to get through it, or feel a loss of appetite completely. Neither extremes are good ones.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is exercise. This may sound really hard to think about during your grief, but once you push yourself into an exercise routine you will be thankful that you did. It's a known fact that exercise during grief and depression helps to distract from the painful emotions, lessens stress, makes you feel more in control, and restores your motivation to continue on in life. It also releases endorphins, which are natural chemicals in your body that will help make you feel good. In turn, you will find your nerves becoming more calm, feelings of hurt and frustration are lessened in intensity, and you will most likely even sleep better at night. Even just short sessions of exercise can lift your spirit and spark these changes.

Getting up and pushing yourself to exercise, in the beginning, is the hardest part. But you don't need to jump into full-speed running or anything - your main goal should just be to get moving. So it's best, and easiest, to begin by setting small goals for yourself, such as going for a short walk around the neighborhood. Go for this one short walk on the first day, and make it a goal to expand it on the next day. Either go for two walks the next day, one early in the day and afternoon. Or just lengthen the time of one walk. Even if you don't feel like doing it, force yourself to do so - within as little time as even a few days, you will start to look forward to this.

It also really helps if you're doing something you like. Walking is just an example, and a low-impact way to head into an exercise routine. If you prefer jogging, swimming, going to the gym, yoga, etc., then definitely take on the exercise of your choice. This will further help relax you and make you feel good in doing something you usually enjoy. For instance, I've always loved biking. I had no interest in jumping on my bike and riding around, but once I pushed myself to do so I found it to be very peaceful and relaxing, riding around the neighborhood with the wind and sun on my face, breathing in the fresh air and remembering the life of the outdoors. This is what worked for me, and it not only got easier and easier with time, but I began to look forward to riding my bike each day.

The key is to making goals and a set schedule, and stick to it no matter how depressed of grief-stricken you may feel. Once you get going you should definitely feel an improvement, and it will be so worth it.