5 ways to exercise when you really don't have the energy

"Have you tried exercising? It might help your depression!" Sounds familiar? It's certainly what I got told by many people, including the doctors and nurses when I first had the black fog around my head. But let's face it, the last thing I wanted to do was go for a five-mile run when I felt so crap. Depression robbed me of any energy (or motivation) to do anything. I didn't have the enthusiasm to go running around or dancing or lifting weights, couldn't they see I really wasn't up to it?

What I wasn't explicitly told at the time was that by 'exercise', they really just meant 'movement'. I basically needed to move my bum a bit more than I was at that moment, which was on the sofa or bed for most of the day. So, if you're like me and struggled to think of any 'exercise' you could do, I have a list of five things which worked for me...

Have A Stretch

Just think about yoga for a moment. It's basically a lot of stretching, right? That's exercise! For the times when I felt able to go outside, I went to a yoga class. I loved yin yoga, which is all restorative and relaxing (and a lot of laying or sitting down to do the stretching). When I didn't want to go outside or spend money on a class, there was YouTube with some great yoga videos on there. It still counts if it's five minutes of Chair Yoga (yes, it's a thing, and yes, it exists)!

Get Cleaning

There were so many chores I put off, especially like doing the hoovering. But then I realised that it counted as exercise! It's pushing around a piece of equipment, I'm standing up and walking around, I'm using up energy, I'll take that as exercise. It's a job off of the 'to-do' list, and I felt a teeny bit better for doing it. The same applies to dusting, washing the dishes, cleaning counter tops, doing a bit of tidying...I'm moving, so it's exercising!

Get Rid Of Rubbish

I used to find the emptying the rubbish one of the hardest things to do in terms of chores (along with hoovering), so you could guarantee I would always have a full bin. Getting that heavy bag out, walking it down to the bins outside, then coming up and putting a fresh bag in was a big thing for me. But it then meant I had physically moved, gone outside in the fresh air, potentially seen daylight, come back inside and done something productive and useful for myself. Double win!

PJ Party

Even without much energy running through me, if a cheesy song came on I'd want to be bopping along to it. Time for a solo dance party in the bedroom in PJs! That's definitely exercise, moving and grooving and I didn't even have to get properly dressed for it.

Go Shopping

Going to the little shop nearby and grabbing a pint of milk because I'd just used up the last bit for my tea? Yup, that's exercise. I'd walk on over to that shop, buy that milk (or those biscuits, or loo roll, whatever I fancied for that dopamine rush, or things had run out of) and get myself back home. It's a short walk, it's fresh air, it's stocking up on your essentials, it totally counts! The amount of time I stocked up on milk, chocolate, pizza, chocolate, fruit, chocolate...you get the idea. I got my exercise!

There you have it, five simple ideas for how I managed to incorporate 'exercise' (and by that, I mean move) when I felt depressed and really didn't want to do anything.

Remember that anything on my blog is just my personal opinion based on what has worked for me and my situation. Don't take it as medical advice or anything like that, I'm just sharing what worked for me.

To hear more about my experiences of depression, my debut book I'm Not That Depressed... is available to buy now. Click here to head to Amazon to grab your copy.