Exercise May Help Increase Activity, Decrease Tiredness

Logical and Proven Correct.

Hey folks,

For those of you who may know, I have a HECTIC Schedule. To say the least. It has already intensified thanks to having a New Born. Not to go into all the details, I'm up between 4 to 4:30am. I'm nonstop pretty much until around 10pm or later. The cycle repeats.

Now by Friday, I'm pretty much wiped. Passing out around 8 pm. Saturday is a day off from the Blog, so I usually crash and get up Saturday and do Family stuff. Sunday the whole thing starts over with the Big Sunday Edition and Monday, back to the Grind. Now with Eli thrown into the mix, even some of those off days are pretty busy.

Now I have started back up my Gym Schedule again. Every other day. One week is Monday, Wed, Fri, Sun, the following is Tue, Thur, Sat. I can hear some of you know. "Pete. WHY? Why bother with the Gym at all. You have so much on your plate to begin with." This is true. I did stop going completely. I had completely removed myself from the Gym. What happened? I was even MORE tired. More pent up. More scattered. I adjusted my Physical routine to satisfy my Tiredness, instead of attempting to combat my tiredness with my Physical routine.

Let me try to explain it this way. First time you ride a Bike, Swim, Run, Walk, WHATEVER, you can only do so much. What happens the LONGER you stick with it? That's right. You can Bike, Swim, Run, Walk, longer, farther, and faster. You gain stamina, and strength to over come the fatigue you first experience right out of the gate.

So now we have proof that a Positive Mind, and Exercise, CAN and DOES help. According to Health Day - Study Says 2 Therapies Help Fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome By Alan Mozes HealthDay Reporter Fri Feb 18, 11:48 pm ET

THURSDAY, Feb. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Patients struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome may be helped the most when standard treatment is coupled with cognitive behavior therapy or exercise therapy, new British research suggests.

The apparent promise of cognitive behavior therapy and "graded exercise therapy" offers considerable hope to patients combating the complex condition characterized by profound tiredness, impaired concentration, diminished memory, sleep difficulties and muscle and joint pain, the study authors said.

The findings also support the somewhat controversial notion that incremental adjustments in physical behavior and/or mental attitude can ultimately have a positive impact on the disorder, the authors said.

There has been MANY studies done over the years that PROVE beyond any doubt, that a positive attitude and mindset, can contribute valuable assistance to healing. Some hear that they have a disease, and or, some kind of major setback in their lives, and they give up. In which case, they go further down hill faster. But those that FIGHT. Those that keep up good spirits, if you will, CAN over come, and or, prolong both the quality of their lives, and their life itself.

The standard intervention, known as specialist medical care, is centered around giving patients information about their condition, advice on how to manage symptoms and assistance with coping approaches.

The research team behind the new study found little appreciable benefit with a third alternate therapeutic approach that focuses on helping patients strictly structure their activity and relaxation routines to match their severely reduced energy levels. This strategy, known as "adaptive pacing therapy," assumes that chronic fatigue syndrome is not, in fact, reversible with behavioral changes.

"Patients who received either graded exercise therapy or cognitive behavior therapy reported less fatigue and better function than those who received either adaptive pacing therapy or specialist medical care alone," said study author Dr. Peter D. White, a professor of psychological medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine, and a psychiatrist at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

White and his colleagues report their findings in the Feb. 18 online edition of The Lancet.

The authors noted that it is not yet understood what gives rise to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

The cognitive behavioral therapy targets the building fear and avoidance of activity that can exacerbate CFS. In effect, it seeks to break a vicious cycle in which mental inhibitions actually perpetuate and aggravate the underlying chronic fatigue.

In other words, they give up. They say, "OK. I can no longer stay awake for 16 hours. So I will now take a nap. I can no longer do this or that, so I stop."But doing this, the body and the mind get USE to it. They adapt to the negative. Yet, some say, "I'm NOT going to give up. I will continue to do the things I chose to do, yet, I will make modifications. I will work at building up MORE energy. I will Eat right, and Exercise. I will improve my stamina. I will overcome." In a lot of cases, they DO.

Exercise therapy, also known as "GET," tries to reduce fatigue and disability by gradually helping patients increase their activity levels to improve their overall physical fitness.

To explore which therapies or combinations of therapies might be best, 641 chronic fatigue patients from four different rehabilitation centers in Britain were divided up into one of four groups. Over the course of a year, all got standard specialist medical care, while three of the groups received one additional treatment: pacing therapy, cognitive therapy or exercise therapy.

White and his team found the greatest improvements in terms of both fatigue levels and physical function were experienced by those patients who were treated with standard therapy in combination with either cognitive therapy or exercise therapy.

What's more, patients who got a combination of standard treatment and pacing therapy fared no better than those who got standard treatment alone.

Specifically, 60 percent of the standard/cognitive or standard/GET patients experienced fatigue and function improvements, while 30 percent reported "normal levels" of fatigue and function. Half as many of the standard therapy alone or standard/pacing patients reported normal fatigue and function levels.

White noted that all the treatments were equally safe, and serious reactions were rare.

"Patients now have a choice of two moderately effective and safe treatments that can help them towards a healthier life," he said.

Dr. Nancy Klimas, chief medical officer at the Chronic Fatigue Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, noted that the merits of various therapeutic approaches to chronic fatigue syndrome are still a matter of debate.

"But here Dr. White is saying that cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise are moderately helpful, but not curative," she said. "And I would agree with that."

"On the other hand, it's also important to note that when we talk about helping patients increase their activity levels, we're talking about people who have very limited amounts of energy," Klimas added. "And you have to work within this 'energy envelope,' because if you push beyond the threshold they will relapse. So often, what we're talking about is about five minutes of exercise before taking a rest."

"In any case, I look at this as a first step," she said, "and anticipate more effective therapies, based on a better understanding of the biology of the illness, in the future."

Now I'm not going to disagree with Dr. Nancy Klimas, but I KNOW from experience, that, that "five minutes of exercise before taking a rest," can and most of the time WILL Lead to Ten Minutes. Ten can lead to Fifteen. So on and so forth.

It's like when you start lifting weights. At first, you can only lift X. Say 10 pounds. The more you lift that 10 pounds, the stronger you get. Now you can lift 15, then 20, ETC. Just like the Bike, or Running. At first you may only be able to go 5 minutes. But 5 can lead to 10 can lead to 15, ETC.

I see this as completely Logical. A positive mind, Exercise, along with some Natural and Standard Care? I would rather hit whatever it is on ALL fronts, than lay down, give up, and accept something that may very well be able to be changed.
Peter

Sources:
Health Day - Study Says 2 Therapies Help Fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome