Ok, maybe I went for a walk and kicked up my dopamine levels…
Exercise. Yeah, I know I need to do it. Sometimes I even do it!
Self-management is the key for me to stay on my game. And that is important. I’ve taken my coaching practice full-time as of July 1, and so if I’m off for too long, my business suffers. Well, Amy, isn’t that true of everyone? Yes, to a degree, but I digress.
If you know me, I’ve got ADHD, inattentive, so getting sidetracked is common; getting started can be a nightmare, and finishing is, well, sometimes (often) I’ve moved on to something else already.
Making it more complicated is that I had brain surgery twice in the last three years. I had a benign tumor in my cerebellum that impacted my overall operating capacity. And surgery, while it went well–last fall, and I’m recovering, it’s still easy to land myself on the couch for a day or 3 if I’m not careful. (and then there’s a fair amount of internal whining: but I didn’t even do much! (when it happens)
Partially at fault are my dopamine pathways. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes you focus on external achievement. It is typically the neurotransmitter that most stimulant ADHD meds focus on increasing. I get to rely on other ways to boost my dopamine,
like exercise (did you know: In rats, treadmill running increases dopamine release and upregulates the number of dopamine receptors in the reward areas of the brains (PubMED). )
Eating More Protein–I don’t know what the magic number is, but if I’m eating or snacking, there should be protein involved.
Getting enough sleep–that’s an entire week’s worth of posts on its own
Getting enough sunlight–I do live in Seattle, and it is going to be cloudy for the next 8 months– this is a challenge
Meditating–does Yoga Nidra (Yoga Sleep ) count?
Anyway–
I went for a walk. It might have taken me an hour to talk myself into it, but twenty minutes of exercise, even low-grade walking, is enough to put off the blah for an hour or two.
And now, as my friend from college would say, and now, all-y’all can read the first post!
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