Mental Health Wednesday -- Stretching Exercises to Soothe the Soul

According to an article in Neuropsychobiology entitled “Exercise and Mental Health: Many Reasons to Move”

Neurodegenerative diseases become more prevalent as individuals age and, therefore, represent a serious issue for the healthcare system. Since inactivity is the number one risk factor for many diseases, physical activity has become an emerging topic of interest for many investigators. Exercise might act as an efficient and low-cost adjunctive factor in the treatment and prevention of age-related neurodegenerative processes [1, 2] . Clinical evidence has demonstrated that exercise has a positive relationship with the outcome of different mental diseases, such as depression, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, improving not only patients’ quality of life but the disease itself [7–9] . Indeed, exercise is related to enhanced cognitive functioning and brain plasticity [10, 11] 

I think we can all agree that we feel better after a good workout but lately, I’ve been too busy to work out. I’ve been sitting at my computer cranking out scripts and recording podcasts and I’ve been building up a lot of tension in my shoulders, neck, and back. Therefore, I decided in this last episode of Mental Health Wednesday that I would do some stretching exercises. Whenever I do my yoga, I feel better and I thought that if I feel better doing those exercises, surely everyone else would, too. Exercise is good for our mental health.

Helping me today is a very special Heart Warrior. She is a Hearts Unite the Globe Patron and a contributor to my newest book — “The Heart of a Heart Warrior.” Alicia Lynch and I had an opportunity to meet in person several years ago at a conference in Boston. I’m completely delighted that she is joining me in the studio today.

Thanks to Tammy Oropesa for the music at the beginning and ending of this episode. Visit Tammy's website: https://www.okay-tee.com/

To follow along with Alicia and me, use our YouTube link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmketAlGRo0

Thanks to Siddhartha Corsus for the music accompanying our workout
“Oh, Radiant One” https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Siddhartha
Here is this artist’s website: https://siddhartha.music.blog/

Special thanks to Alicia Lynch for guiding us in this exercise routine. This is the final installment of our Mental Health Wednesday mini-series during Heart Month, February 2022.

Special thanks to Stephanie Scherer for sound engineering and production assistance and to Spencer Tyme for being our Producer for this episode.

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Sheri Turner is our newest Defender Patron and she also serves as a HUG Volunteer. Thank you so much for your generosity and all you do, Sheri!