Sometimes for people who have disabilities, just getting up in the morning can be a chore. Then, when you add, feeding yourself, getting clean and ‘nice’ and further, if you need to go out, putting in an extra effort to look presentable to the public, whoa just typing the words makes me tired!
But if you wish to become more able to do things, when you have Multiple Sclerosis, the buzz phrase is ‘Use It Or You’ll Lose It’, and so these days, people are encouraged to do exercise to help themselves remain mobile, if they are actually mobile, and to exercise while seated if mobility is a problem for them, as it is for many with MS.
Not all people with MS have such mobility problems, particularly these days, with better understanding, and better medications and other treatments. I am one of the more mobile people with MS, on a good day (ie, not to hot, and if I am not feeling stressed), I can walk easily up to 500 metres.
I certainly am glad about that, I like being able to get around easily in my community! So I’ve been doing more exercise, these days, simple things, that I can do at home, with minimal equipment. Walking. That is such a basic thing, many people don’t think of it as being exercise, but it is.
My main exercise thing is indeed that, walking. I’ve been making a point, a few times in a week, of walking extra steps at home, brisk steps, and counting those steps. I know that two of my brisk steps equal on metre, therefore, if I walk 500 brisk steps, I have walked 250 metres. This is in addition to any usual walking I do to walk around the house and outside, doing the ordinary everyday things we all do. The brisk steps are extra ones, they are exercise.
So I do these steps both inside the house, walking briskly from room to room, into and out of rooms, counting the steps as I go, and outside of the house. Outside, I might walk up and down the back or front veranda. Or I may walk around our swimming pool (50 steps, I’ve counted!). I feel good about having begun this plan, and while I know it would be good if I did it every day, I also know that just isn’t going to happen. Life gets in the way.
Another exercise I just thought about today, is How about thinking about household chores as exercises?! Haha, I hate housework, and am very glad that my husband does most of it, as my carer. But today, I had to, no actually, I chose to, do the washing, and hung it out. But I told myself I was going to do some bending and stretching exercise outside in the sunshine, and that way, hanging out the washing felt like a good thing to do, not a chore!
And later on today, I’ll do some more stretching, when I go out to the clothesline to bring in the washing, and some weights to carry it inside. After that, there will be some bending, to get the washing out of the basket, and stretching, to put away it all away in drawers and the wardrobe!
Hooray to exercising, and hooray to me for thinking of this cunning plan, to rename things, and find enjoyment and that needed movement! I’m definitely moving it, because I sure don’t want to lose it – mobility is my friend! If you stop thinking about parts of your life being a chore, your whole life can feel better!