Exercise as a form of self punishment would bring more harm than good

Last Updated on June 19, 2021

Someone had left an interesting comment on one of my blog post Feeling tired and drained at the end of the day? Some simple ways to re-energize:

This is the biggest piece of bullshit. These things will help you – but not because negative energy, auras and all that crap. Mainly because running makes your body release endorphins and over time will increase your stamina so you will be able to be energetic for longer.

Many people are very active physically- and yet they push their bodies as hard as how they push themselves in study, work, relationships, projects, assignments, etc. As the result, they suffer from burnout.

The benefits of exercising cannot be denied- it improves our circulation and overall feeling of well-being. If a person is feeling down or moody, doing at least some light exercise especially in a natural environment like parks and places with trees and fresh air helps tremendously rather than lying around on the sofa or bed.  Somehow the sweating and the movement is therapeutic, not to mention that it constant maintenance of exercising helps keep many diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol at bay, or if contracted, then at controllable levels.

However, the problem arise when a person attempts to push himself or herself very hard- possibly due to negative body imagine (wanting desperately to lose weight and hating oneself for eating and so try to punish oneself to exercise). In the gyms, I am sure we all would have seen people who are really forcing themselves to exercise. Not many people actually enjoy exercising and movement. If exercise is done that way, it creates stress- because we are exercising to push ourselves. And if we have the personality trait of keep pushing ourselves, one day, we will drive ourselves to fatigue….to a complete emotional breakdown- that is if our health don’t suffer first.

We have heard news about people who just dropped death or suffer heart attack while exercising. If one exercise to relax oneself, it is unlikely that this would happen. It is not that exercising is bad for health- it is that anything, done for the wrong reasons may bring harmful consequences. To me, exercise is like medicine- but if we take the medicine for the wrong ailments, then it brings harm. Just like we exercise to punish ourselves (because we hate the way our bodies look), then it brings more stress.  And the more we force ourselves, the more our being gets tired and then we may want to seek comfort in more eating….and hence more weight gain….and more self hatred…and hence the cycle continues.

Till one day, we may just give up exercising all together.

Therefore, if we are constantly feeling tired and drained, we need to look deeper- it is because of the way we deal with stress? Some people just absorb in all the stress like a sponge. If we are like that, it takes time for us to change too…it is not instant. The first step is learn how to relax and discharge negative energies within us- and salt water as mentioned in the blog post is a traditional method that had been practiced for a long long time.

I’ve seen lots of physically active people who have very weak energy levels, indicating their inner health is no good- pale or yellowish skin, dark eye rings. It is either through build up of toxins, insufficient nutrients or negative energies- regardless of what it is, it may require more than usual exercise alone to discharge it.

And if I can, I would always try to recommend inexpensive ways to help in the ailments. Try it out and see, there is no harm. If the method does not work, you can always seek out other alternatives. After all, salt water and stepping on bare earth are literally free.

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