Although this article refers to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I believe the advice is just as pertinent for those of us with Fibromyalgia since the symptoms of the two conditions overlap so much.

Exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"Is exercise making you sick?"
What exactly is healthy exercise for chronic fatigue syndrome? I used to go down to the gym, lift weights for a few hours until I reached total exhaustion and then repeat the process several days a week.

Externally my body looked in healthy muscular condition. But internally I was very sick and exhausted. As well as weight training my exercise regime was strenuous running and intense martial art training.

At this stage in my life I truly believed that such hard-core body building training or exercise was beneficial to my health. We are told everywhere to exercise more. But the body building training I was doing was in fact making my body very weak and was one of the elements causing my body to finally break down into a state of bedridden exhaustion (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) for several years.

Weight training involves tearing the muscle fibres and then letting these muscle fibres heal again. This causes a growth in muscle m***. Weight training is like a mild trauma to the muscular tissue and nervous system. If a person does not fully recovery from each body building training session then overtraining results.

Every athlete will tell you the dangers of overtraining. Overtraining syndrome is a serious problem marked most noticeably by a decrease in performance, strength, speed, endurance, increased fatigue, persistent muscle soreness, mood disturbances and feeling “burnt out”.

If overtraining is continued for a sustained period of time it can lead to a full nervous system shutdown resulting in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a chronic medical condition. Symptoms include excessive unrelenting fatigue and weakness, general body pain, mental brain fogginess, stomach and intestinal problems. The degree of severity can differ widely among people. Severity can vary between getting unusually fatigued following stressful events, to being totally bedridden and completely disabled.

What is healthy exercise?

So what is healthy exercise? To answer this lets look into the ancient wisdom of the 5000 year old healing science known as ayurveda.

According to ayurvedic medicine exercises main aim is to create vibrant energy, radiant health, and keep ones body in good shape.

But exercise should be within limits. Modern research confirms that too much exercise can create free radicals and damages the body. Excess free radicals have been linked to over 80% of degenerative disease as well as premature aging. Also too little exercise creates weight gain, fatigue and poor health.

According to ayurvedic medicine you should not use more than 50 percent of your total energy capacity to exercise. And that capacity depends on daily fluctuations of energy, health, change of the seasons, age, and body type.

Exercising beyond one's capacity can create imbalance in mind and body and do more harm than good.

Exercise should not exhaust people. Exercise should not be a torture chamber of running 50 miles a day. It should be beneficial to ones health and also beneficial to ones mind. How can doing painful exercise, that makes ones mind react negatively, be of benefit? And most importantly most people will not make exercise a daily habit if it’s too painful a task.

One should exercise every day, as part of your regular daily routine. If possible, exercise in the morning before 10:00, as your body has more strength and stamina during this time of day. Exercising at this time also energizes you for the day ahead.

Avoid exercise in the late evening or towards bedtime, because it rises body temperature and disturbs sleep patterns. Avoid exercise from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It's not a good idea to exercise on a full stomach, nor is it good to exert yourself if your stomach is too empty. Wait about two hours after a full meal. Have a light snack of fruit, soup and warming food before exercising and eat your full breakfast afterwards.

The seasons follow another pattern. If you want to increase your exercise, winter and spring are the best times. In hot weather, you need to decrease exertion and stay out of the hot sun.

As for age, younger people have more capacity for exercise and older people need less although daily body exercise is essential at any age.

What exercise should people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome do?

Ayurveda recommends three exercises which are supreme in creating energy and health. These three exercises should be approached slowly with people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and should be combined with adequate recovery rest time.

The length of time one does exercise is in direct relation to ones energy. The rule is to exercise to half your capacity, not more. Often people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome have no capacity to exercise at all due to chronic depletion. In such a situation one should rest and avoid exercise until ones energy capacity increases enough to gain benefit from exercise.

Walking

With walking exercise to half your capacity. If you can walk twenty minutes do only ten minutes. Your capacity represents the total amount of energy you have and going beyond that you are completely tired and can't go any further. The purpose of exercise is not to drain all your energy but to produce more of it. For this reason, never work out to your full capacity. Stop while you still feel energetic and comfortable both mentally and physically.

Breathe through your nose, close your mouth while walking. Breathe deeply with your abdomen. Exercise should enhance rather than diminish energy and vitality. You should be energetic both during the exercise and afterwards. As long as you feel this you are not going beyond what your body can handle. If you feel strained and exhausted during the exercise or afterward, you're doing too much.

If you're not exerting enough, you can exercise for a longer period or with more intensity. You could start with a walk, but each day you could increase the intensity of exercise (by walking faster). Or you could walk for a longer time (increasing the duration). Start out slowly and gradually increase the intensity and time. Stop when you note signs of overexertion. If you begin by exercising at 50% of your maximum capacity, with time your maximum capacity will rise as you become stronger.

You can continue to walk until you notice one of the following two signs of overexertion:

If you can no longer breathe through your nose, that's a sign that your body is overstrained, slow your pace until nose breathing becomes possible again. Sweating on forehead or tip of nose. Its fine to sweat elsewhere in the body, but when you notice sweat in these two places it's a sign that you are overexerted and you should stop. If you're not exerting enough, you can exercise for a longer period or with more intensity. Each day increase the intensity of exercise by walking faster or for longer time. Start out slowly and gradually increase the intensity and time. Stop when you note signs of overexertion. After any exercise always fully relax and lie on the floor with your arms and legs stretched in shavasana pose. Stay in this pose for half the amount of time you spent doing walking. This is as important as the exercises because if not done strain will occur while the body is adjusting to its new healthier structure.

Yoga

Yoga is the king of exercise. Yoga exercises include stretching poses, breathing techniques and muscular locks.

Yoga is a perfect healing science that’s been time tested and holds strong today as it did thousands of years ago. Its techniques are derived from yoga masters whom spent their life learning everything about the human body, mind and soul.

Yoga techniques powerfully help detoxify and rejuvenate your body. Yoga m***ages and nourishes all your internal organs.

With all yoga exercises it’s important to go at a level that doesn’t aggravate your imbalance. Often too much movement aggravates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but some mild gentle slow movement heals it. If you’re very weak then complete rest and no exercise is needed. So be aware of how your body reacts with yoga exercises. Never push through pain. Pain is an indication to stop. Start with only a few exercises then slowly build up to do them all. Please adjust to your own body’s response and use common sense.

If you are very weak do one rounds once a week or once every two weeks and slowly build up to more rounds when your body’s physiology adjusts, heals and repairs to its new healthier structure. Always listen to your body. Your body knows exactly how much exercise it can tolerate. If exercise doesn’t increase your energy and well-being then your physiology isn’t ready for it yet.

I describe in full detail in my e book “Cure Your Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” what yoga exercises are useful for healing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at my website:

www.curechronicfatigue.com

M***age

M***age has huge rejuvenating attributes that heal the human body. M***age is a very p***ive exercise, perfect for those depleted with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Special herbal oils are m***aged and absorbed through your skin. These go deep into nourishing your nervous system. They penetrate the vital organs providing health and vitality. Plus the heat from the m***age friction makes absorbing these oils very easy.

M***age also stimulates all the acupressure points, which stimulate and balance all the organs and glands in the body. A daily oil m***age is a panacea in bringing about human rejuvenation. It is a must for those suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

The best exercise for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome suffers is self m***age or yoga. If one is too exhausted to do self m***age you can get a weekly full body m***age from a professional. And for those too exhausted for full body m***age start with a weekly foot m***age from a professional reflexologist.

Final thoughts

Weight lifting is clearly not the ideal exercise to promote health and energy. Where as walking to half your capacity, yoga and m***age nourish your organs, increase strength and promote health. These exercises lead you to extraordinary vitality, energy and well-being. They also reduce fat and keep your body is prime shape and appearance.

Author of this article Jeremy Carew-Reid is a natural healer in Ayurvedic medicine. On his website www.curechronicfatigue.com you can learn how you how you can heal Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. His website contains a wealth of free health articles on everything you need to know about healing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Copyright © 2004 by Jeremy Carew-Reid.
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