# How many of us exercise regularly? And does it help you?



## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

I'm just curious, I have read in a lot of your posts that many of us do exercise regularly, so I was wondering how many of us really take that as part of our treatment?I have ME and do exercise regularly - 5 days a week. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do 7 minutes of cardio, and on Tuesday and Thursday I do about 15 minutes of strength training. I think this has been a VERY important piece of the puzzle in my treatment. I am not in remission, but I'm feeling the best I've ever felt. I have been one of the severe ME cases, bedridden and housebound for weeks and months at a time, so doing better has meant less time stuck in bed for me.How many else have found regular exercise (even if it's just a little, like me) has helped them?


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## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

Regular exercise for me has been a definite benefit for me.I was house bound and walking up a flight of stairs five years ago was exhausting I would have to lie down for four or five hours to recover to the point where I felt I could crawl out of bed again.I didn't do anything special just a bit of gentle walking. At the time I had a dog which wanted walking in the village I lived, so everyday it harrassed me out the door to walk it. It started off exhausting but very very gradually over 18 months or so I could do a little bit further every week. Having a routine was good.I wouldn't say I'm totally recovered, I don't think I will ever get back to more than 70% of what I was before the M.E. but now physically I can manage more than I did five years ago. Also added to that improvement is the recognisation I can't achieve what I could before, so I changed my goals to more achievable ones and I try to factor in rest periods etc if I know I'm about to do something a little bit draining.I live life by a points system. I have say 10 points a day to spend on physical/mental/emotional activity...once they are spent the rest of stuff has to wait. Others might see it as selfish because sometimes I can't go to social events or do what they think I should...I call it self preservation...its what I have to do in compromise to protect myself from going back to the housebound bedridden person I was.


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## Aberlaine (Feb 9, 2006)

I was told that walking would help the arthritis in my hips and knees. So I walk my dog for about 1/2 hour about six times a week. I haven't found that it helps my fibromyalgia at all. But it does make my joints ache less.I'm afraid if I stop exercising, I will end up in my bed - permanently.Claire, I've heard of the spoon theory (you only have a certain amount of spoons to use during the day). How does your point system work? How do you decide which activity uses how many points? I'm always overdoing it and need a concrete way to say to myself - "Whoa! you're done for the day."


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Hi Aberlaine







I'm not Clair, but thought I'd go ahead and respond to your question since I saw it!I would suggest, first and foremost, that you check out the "Fibro FAQ" which includes link to "The Spoon Theory".As far as applying that to yourself, well, nobody can really do that for you. Each person has their own personal supply of "spoons" for the day. And each activity takes a different number of "spoons" for each person. Only time and experience can solve that puzzle for you!A good thing to do when you're just startng to learn how to cope with pain and energy levels would be to keep a journal. Journal your activities each day, and jot down how much energy different activities take out of you. After a few months, you'll hopefully be able to see a bit of a pattern. Then you just put that information into practice!There's no one solution for figuring out your own personal Spoon supply. But with a little time, experience, and observation, you'll find your own best way to manage. Hope this helps!!


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## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

Sorry very remiss of me not to notice someone had responded - I can only blame the brain fog!The points system I used took me a while to put together, but basically as M&M said keeping a journal helps you will be able to jot down what exactly you have done and how you felt immediately after and even the next day as a result.I seperated out activities into three groups, negative (ones that take energy away from you), neutral (ones that have no real effect)and positive (ones that increase energy).Then I would take an activity and give it a score depending on how draining or energising it was for me personally....usually it was negative if it meant i had to go back to bed to recover







E.g. walking round the supermarket would be say 4 negative points, doing a chore such as hoovering would be 2 or 3 negative points. Lying on bed listening to relaxation music or doing a hypnotherapy CD would be neutral in points (therefore could do as often as I wanted), or positive energy activities such as getting an afternoon nap would be say 2 or 3 positive points.Once I had worked out how much effort each type of activity took (right down to reading whats on TV in the paper!)I then slowly worked out how much negative energy points I was allowed to spend each day safely without making myself feel ill or fatigued. I try to stick to it, but like everyone else you slip up occasionaly. But its a good way to say to yourself - right I've done x,y and z today I've spent most my points...tough luck said chore a or b must wait until tomorrow! It also helps you factor in rest periods if you keep track of what you've been upto....because sometimes we forget to rest when our bodies want us to then we end up with payback.Everyone is different so it will take you a bit of time to figure out what's what but it can be useful in helping you establish a routine.I also use a treats system







to reward myself for keeping to my points limit - if I overdo it no treat! even if its a small candy bar or something.


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