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5 Mood elevating exercises you can do at work

~Dave Albert 23/12/2010

 
 

* DISCLAIMER *

* It is always important to consult your physician before starting an exercise program.  As with all information contained within this blog and moodocity.com this is only a guide, so please use your own best judgement at all times.  If you are not comfortable with anything do not continue and please seek professional help.* 

 
 Do you want to be in a better mood?  Then get up and move!  Numerous peer reviewed and accepted studies, have proven exercise can improve mood levels.  Not only that but you don’t have to kill yourself with an extreme workout.  I will describe 5 exercises you should be able to do at work or home.  
  

I challenge you to try these five simple exercises throughout your day and track your mood.  I am certain you will see an improvement if you consistently find the small amount of time it takes to move more.  You do not need to do all of the exercises at the same time, you can break them up into 5 different times throughout your day.  Think of them as mini-breaks, or just use the ones you like and add your own.  If you add your own please let me know, I may add them to my own routine.  
 

1. Squats - (Careful not to split your trousers)
  • Stand with your legs about shoulder width apart
  • Keep your back straight, tummy tight and feet flat on the ground
  • If you need help balancing hold on to a sturdy surface
  • Bend at the knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground
  • Keep your knees over your feet, but not past your toes
  • Maintain your center of gravity
  • Raise you self back up to a standing position with your legs
  • Repeat 5 to 10 times - (start with just 1 if you have never done them before)

Remember to breath, in on the way down and out on the way up.  Stay steady and controlled throughout the entire exercise. I am serious about splitting you trousers, I speak from personal experience.  One day at work I was demonstrating this to a friend when I heard the fateful tell-tale sound of the contents of my clothing exceeding the restraining capabilities of their seams.  That day I invented (at least modeled) the rain jacket skirt to go along with my shirt and tie.  So make sure if you are going to try this exercise your clothing fits properly and you might want to try it at home first.
 

2. Stretch arms way back - (Like you are describing something huge)
  • Stand up straight
  • Keep your back straight and tummy tight
  • As you inhale stretch your arms backward as if you are saying “It was this big.”
  • And as you exhale close your outstretched arms until your palms touch
  • Repeat 5 to 15 times

 

Again stay steady and controlled throughout, focusing on the movements you are making.  The breathing is as important as the arm movement, try to match their paces. 

 


3. Flex muscles - (Each muscle/group one at a time)
  • While breathing-in flex a muscle group
  • Hold the breath for a few seconds
  • Exhale and relax the muscles

I can’t really explain this any better, just squeeze a muscle until it’s tight hold it then relax.  If you’ve ever done any kind of weight training (even with very light weights) or have had to exert a moderate amount of force to move something (picking up a box or a heavy child, moving furniture, etc...) you should know what it feels like for your muscles to be tensed.  This is the feeling that you’re trying to duplicate.  I like this one a lot because you can do it at your desk without anyone really noticing. Another great benefit I find from this is that I feel noticeably more relaxed in each muscle group after I’m finished, and thus more relaxed in general.  The act of consciously tensing and purposely relaxing muscles helps to get rid of any tension you had in them but were unaware of.  As you learn what each muscle group flexing feels like, it gets easier to flex multiple groups simultaneously.
  
 
4. Wall push-ups - (Against the wall so you don’t soil your clothing)
  • With a small bit of separation face a wall
  • Place both hands on the wall
  • Slowly while inhaling allow your body to move closer to the wall by bending your elbows
  • Push yourself back to the erect position while exhaling
  • Repeat 10 - 15 times or to a number you are comfortable with

You can do these one arm at a time to increase the difficulty, obviously don’t try this until you are comfortable doing it with two arms.  Another option if you feel ready to increase the difficulty is to stand a little further away from the wall.  I like to imagine I am pushing all my troubles away when I push away from the wall.  Just be careful not to push so hard you fall down trying to get rid of your problems.

5. Touch toes - (Then raise arms over your head)
  • Stand with your legs about shoulder width apart
  • Keep your back straight and tummy tight
  • As you inhale stretch your arms over your head
  • As you exhale bend at the waist and touch your toes
  • If you can’t reach your toes, reach your fingers toward them until it is slightly uncomfortable, but absolutely NOT painful
  • While inhaling straighten back up until your hands are over your head
  • Repeat 5 - 15 times

Make absolutely sure you are slow and controlled, and do not bounce. Bouncing causes injury so don’t do it.  I have terrible posture, so the stretching of my back always feels great too.


Well there you have it.  These are a few of the things I do during the day when I am feeling groggy or stressed.  After doing the exercises my body feels a bit better and my mood definitely improves.  I think this helps me partially due to the increased blood flow you don’t get sitting behind a desk.  I also feel like I have taken a few minutes (less than 5) for myself to block out all external and internal stresses.  I know I have done something, even if it is only a little bit, to improve my body.  The funny thing about the 5 minutes I steal away for myself is that it ends up increasing my productivity for a couple hours, because I feel refreshed.
 
 
With all the exercises the slower and more controlled the better.  This should be a theme for your life, when you have control you are not out of control. Try not to think about anything except the movements you are making and how it feels in each of the affected muscles.  


You can document your mood on a notepad or in your free confidential mood journal at moodocity.com.  I would love to hear your results, either comment on this blog or join the discussion at moodocity.


Feel Good!

 

4 Simple actions to improve your mood

~Dave Albert 21/12/2010

 
Are you in a bad mood? Work got you down?  Do you have tightness in your shoulders or a tension headache?  You can improve your mood and possibly your health with these 4 simple actions.  Use one or all of them, you can even try them in combination or all at the same time.
 
 

1. Breath - (Breath deeply and consciously for 1 minute)
 
Your muscles, organs, blood, and brain all rely on fully oxygenated blood to function properly.  Take a deep controlled breath and hold it for a second then exhale fully in a controlled manner.  Repeat this for about one minute don’t think about anything else only your breathing.  We are all busy people, but you have one minute a few times throughout the day to breath.  


2. Fresh Air - (Related to breathing even better if the air is fresh)

Go outside. Breathe in the fresh air. Feel the sun on your face, and the breeze in you hair.  Being bald myself it’s only in my arm hair, but still.  If it’s winter or fall feel and smell the crisp clean air.  In these modern times most people spend too much time inside.  Nature is outside, and we need to try to stay more connected with it.  Even if it’s raining or snowing, stick your hand into the rain and feel it.  Really feel the rain or snow on your skin.


3. Drink Water - (Drink a glass or two of water dehydration can cause bad moods)

Dehydration can cause bad moods as well as headaches and even poor motor skills. A study supported in part by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and a U.S. Army grant in was published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills.  So drink some plain old water, skip the coffee, tea or soda.  Remember caffeine can exacerbate dehydration so stick with water.  You are drinking your eight glasses anyway right?   


4. Go for short walk - (Up the stairs, or around the building)

Go for a short five to ten minute walk around the building, go up and down a few flights of stairs.  Get the blood pumping and help carry some of the newly oxygenated blood around your body. Better yet if you need to have a small informal meeting about something have a pedeconference - (a walk and talk).


Next time you find yourself stressed out, or just in a bad mood, try one or more of these techniques and see how much better you feel.  Not only will these actions help with your mood, but a better mood makes you more productive.  Also if you are looking for a way to track your mood and/or keep an online journal, there is a free tool when you login to moodocity.com.  You can also create or join a group and/or discussion about this or any other topic.


Feel Good!

 

The five most recent discussions.

Here are the five most recent discussions as of Saturday the 18th of December 2010.

 

Name Group
Christmas Holidays (Operation Transformation)
How does Fibro effect your work? (Living with Fibromyalgia)
Can excerise ease the symptoms of fibromyalgia? (Living with Fibromyalgia)
What is the best way to ease the muscle pain and chronic fatigue? (Living with Fibromyalgia)
Healthy good mood food? (Operation Transformation)

 

Please login to share your thoughts and moods with us at moodocity.com

moodocity.com now has groups.

Groups

We now have groups over at moodocity.com. You can now search for and join groups, we expect to have the ability to see the mood of the group very soon.  You can search through the full listing of groups here. Or you can search for a specific group here.

 

MyMoodocity

A list of all the groups you have joined is on your mymoodocity page, along with started and save discussions. 

 

From our groups page:

How

  • Create a page for the group : New Group / Or find an existing group
  • Upload a image or logo for the group
  • Share/relate with other people in your group
  • Start discussion about how/why you feel
  • Map the mood of the group locally or globally

Why

  • Your Group's emotional voice
  • Share/relate with other people in your group
  • Administrators of the group can see how their members feel
  • Knowing the mood of members allows administrators to introduce change
  • To assist the members in feeling better
  • So people within the group can see the overall mood of the group

Who

  • Group of individuals who share a common interest or purpose
    • Associations
    • Charitys
    • Hobbists
    • Sports clubs
    • Music fans
    • Entertainment(TV, movies, plays)

What

  • Group specific mood page
  • Members log their mood and comments
  • Central discussion board
  • Overall group mood
  • Month statistics on the mood of the group

Where

  • We care about the emotional health of the world, and moodocity.com is where it is measured.
  • Group specific mood page
  • Member can load mood from their own mood page
  • See featured Groups

 

moodocity.com has a brand new bag!

moodocity has been totally redesigned. 


moodocity has been completely redesigned new features include discussions and will include groups and events.

 

 

New features include

  • More detailed mood journal
  • Discussions with other moodocity users
  • Groups (soon)
  • Events (soon)
  • Save your discussions 
  • and more...

 

moodocity discussions as well as the Mood journal/Mood Diary now support Markdown. Markdown is a plain text formatting syntax.

You can include

  • links
  • bold
  • italics
  • list items
  • and more...

We are continually trying to improve your moodocity experience.

 

 

 

Map the mood of the world. | moodocity.com

Map the mood of the world. | moodocity.com

 

Welcome to moodocity.com

Hello everyone, 

Ever sat at your computer whether in work or home and wonder am I the only one feeling like this. Well we have so we decided to see if the mood of our city, country and even the world can be mapped. From this idea moodocity was born. The name moodocity is a combination of 'mood of city' and it relates to our goal to capture a visual image of the world's mood. 

This is a social experiment to see with nearly 2 billion people using the internet can the web be used not just as a social networking tool but also an emotional device, so please log on and see how the world is feeling.

 

Enter moodocity.com and see how the world is feeling, while tracking your own mood through a micro journal and connecting with others with a similar mood.

 

Help us map the mood of the world! 

 

 

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