Photography by Brandon Douglas
Exercise is a powerful mental workout for you mind, not just your body. Now more than ever we are having to think differently about how we exercise. Claire Cole, founder of Movement for Mums tells us just that. Claire has launched a free live fitness platform with daily mood boosting home workouts focused on mental health.
“We all know it’s better to eat a biscuit a day rather than smash two packets in one sitting, so even though we’re housebound let’s try to commit to some form of movement every day to help boost our moods. Little and often, and something that makes you feel good is what I tell my clients. No one wants to get stressed by their workout, no one wants to feel guilty when they miss a workout, so by listening to your body AND your mind, exercise can become positively addictive!”
As a working mum with more than 20 years of experience in a high powered and high-pressured corporate environment, Claire is on a single-minded mission to inspire women to find a way to incorporate movement into their daily life. Understanding first-hand the struggle of balancing a career and family life, helps Claire relate to the challenges faced by her clients.
Claire’s drive and ambition to support mental health comes from her own experience. She was an agoraphobic in her 20s and later went on to suffer with postnatal psychosis after the birth of her first child in her 30s. Claire reflects on that time with sadness, “scared of the thoughts in my head, scared of being a bad mother, scared of judgement, I felt like I was locked inside fear. I was surrounded by people, but it was the loneliest time of my life and I think there are other mums who feel like I did but are too scared and ashamed to admit that we need support. Today I finally feel that society is changing its attitude towards mental illness and there is now more support than ever, but I still don’t think we focus enough on the relationship between our physical and mental health. My healing journey has always featured fitness, so it felt completely natural to take my corporate skills coupled with my fitness and wellbeing knowledge to deliver motivational live home workouts to other mum’s like me that comes from the heart.”
Here’s Claire’s top tips as to why you should keep moving:
1 Boost your productivity
Exercise improves the cognitive functions associated with decision making, and therefore enables you to be more switched on and productive for the rest of your day. This is exactly what we need when we’re trying to balance working from home and the childcare!
2 Get out of your mind
Scientific studies show that during exercise we don’t think about the day’s stresses. The neurotransmitters that start firing like popping candy in our brains when we work out, wash away the stressed and anxious chemicals boosting our mood for the day.
3 More is NOT better
You don’t have to run a marathon to boost your mood, 20-30 minutes movement every day is optimal. ALL movement counts and ALL movement makes you feel good. Walk the stairs, try a Disney dance off in the kitchen, just move your body in a way that makes you feel good.
4 Sleep matters
Exercise increases the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, and this helps you relax and fall asleep. We all know that feeling of waking up and being able to take on the world and win when we’ve had a good night’s sleep, and exercise helps you sleep! Enough said.
5 Keep the commute
Set the alarm, get up at the same time and do something for you, yes the spilt juice, hair pulling, fighting and biting will still be there if you have kids, but YOU will be better able to cope when you’ve done something for you that makes you feel good.
Claire’s on a mission to boost our moods and her enthusiasm is infectious. You can find Claire streaming free LIVE online fitness classes everyday straight into your lounge, to find out more check out www.movementformums.com, it’s FREE!
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