Ben: 0:07

Welcome to Cut the Noise. Wellness Simplified. Episode 38, lindsay 38.

Lindsay: 0:14

We are loving doing these, and do you know what that means? We're close to 40, which means for 40 weeks we have almost recorded.

Ben: 0:21

What do you mean? Almost, I mean, we actually have?

Lindsay: 0:23

Well, we're not at 40, yet, that's why no, no, but we have literally not.

Ben: 0:24

What do you mean? Almost, I mean, we're not at 40 yet, no, no, but we have literally not missed a week I know rock stars.

Lindsay: 0:28

Let's, let's high five.

Ben: 0:30

You can't see it, but we're high-fiving so basically, I'm looking forward to getting 52. I'll be honest with you.

Lindsay: 0:36

So that's march next year it will be 40. 40 is gonna be cool and 50 is gonna be cool, but I think once we've done a full year without missing a week yeah that'll go against everything we talk about, which is perfection, not progress but it also goes with small baby steps, which is doing one each week right so you know it doesn't have to be perfect we've said this before but it is definitely nice to have a check mark beside each week getting it done. Totally so what are we talking about today, Ben?

Ben: 1:05

Well, we are talking about the top five mental health benefits of exercise, specifically for stress management, productivity and just your overall well-being. And I think we wanted to do this. I say we because you're sat there saying, hey, this was your idea. I think I wanted to do this because when we think about exercise, we often think about the physical manifestation of that work, right, so we think about, you know, getting stronger our body, looking different, so a transformation of our body, losing weight.

Ben: 1:43

You know, we look at those markers that tend to be physical markers and and actually this came from from my own perspective, because simply I use running as everybody knows that listens to this consistently as a tool for my own mental health and I haven't had that for three or four weeks now since my injury. And well, number one, it's something I've had to think about more and I think I've done pretty good. But this and I think I've done pretty good, but this last week I think I've just kind of felt it a little bit and I'm not sure if that's a mental health thing or just missing running thing.

Lindsay: 2:11

I think it might be a bit of both, I think it's definitely a bit of both, and I think, when it comes to exercise, you know, the mental aspect of exercise is often very overlooked, and so we really wanted to bring light to that. Of course, overlooked, and so we really wanted to bring light to that. Of course, every time we come up with a topic, it's either something that either.

Lindsay: 2:29

Ben and I have each had issues with or had a client have a question, or multiple clients have questions, and I think this is something that you know we probably both talk to our clients quite a bit about. I actually had a whole conversation with my client this morning about this, so it is something that I think is super, super important.

Ben: 2:45

So, if you think about mental health benefits, I called out stress management, right? I don't think there's many people listening to this or many people we work with that don't have stress in their life, and probably more stress than they should.

Lindsay: 2:57

Right.

Ben: 2:58

And that's just the nature of life and the world we live in. From a productivity perspective, you know, obviously we all want to try and become more productive, not necessarily do more work, but just be more productive in the time that we're doing, this work that we dedicate right, it's not a case of doing more.

Ben: 3:13

It's a case of just being efficient and then overall wellbeing in terms of just well, exactly that right, just in terms of your overall wellbeing, your overall well-being, your overall health, your overall outlook, your overall mindset, your overall overall attitude and mood, and all of those things, absolutely, and that's really what we're speaking to, those things. So I'm going to call them out and then we'll talk about them and just knock them around, as we usually do, and see where we go perfect sounds good, all right.

Ben: 3:39

So number one is basically the idea of using exercise as your natural pressure release valve.

Lindsay: 3:47

Yes, and that's how I use it a lot and I love that because I think you know Ben uses it. You know we've always joked and I still joke about this is that some days there are moments where I just literally pass him his running shoes and I'm like you need to go.

Ben: 4:00

I know anyone that knows me finds that really, really difficult to believe, and I'm with you. I am definitely not the person she's talking about.

Lindsay: 4:07

Absolutely not, but, and it's not a bad thing, it's not a negative thing. It's just because it is used as kind of that. You know, kettle boil over flow, it's. It helps with the mind.

Ben: 4:19

Right, and I think that the easiest way to think about it sometimes is the idea of it kind of melts away stress and anxiety. And you know, that's a case of we've talked about it this week with our oldest daughter it's actually getting out of your head into your body. Yes, it's actually switching from a I'm in my head to.

Lindsay: 4:36

I'm in my body, yeah, which is interesting because of course, we're talking about the mental health of exercise. But that's the biggest thing, the mental health of exercise, but that's the biggest thing. When you have yourself in your head and you're thinking about the stress or you're really anxious about something, to stop thinking about said thing is really hard. You can't just out think, thinking right. That's just kind of it's really hard to be like. Well, just stop being stressed or stop being anxious. But when you get to a place where you are whether it's huffing and puffing from running or pushing weights or doing something, even going out for a walk and enjoying the, the nature, you are getting out of your head.

Ben: 5:07

I always say there's three things you're going to get from exercising, right. The first one is you're going to be kind of stressed and feeling anxious. You're going to exercise and poof, it just disappears, right, I mean honestly, that doesn't happen that doesn't happen very often.

Lindsay: 5:19

The second one is.

Ben: 5:20

It's going to reduce, right that stress and anxiety. You are going to feel better because actually you just don't have the same energy to put into it because you've worked out. And the third one is, at the very least it just gives you a distraction, right.

Lindsay: 5:33

And I mean, I'm sure you've heard of runner's high, and this is what I was talking with my client this morning is that you know, even if you're not a runner, the idea of the runner's high is, once you start running, you start feeling this kind of you know, oh, it's a wonderful world. Now I don't feel that. When I'm running let's just put it out there, that's something that ben does. But when you are working and you're pushing and you're challenging yourself and you do great things, you're feeling different from starting point to ending point right.

Lindsay: 5:59

So we've got to think about exercise as a tool to lower cortisol, which is the stress hormone right so basically, we want to flood our system with endorphins, which are those feel-good chemicals that's the runner's high, that feeling of of greatness when you're, when you're doing your exercise.

Ben: 6:16

You will never ever be in a situation where when you move your body, I don't necessarily mean intense exercise. When you move your body, you will never feel worse, granted, if you're carrying an injury etc. That that that could be an exception. But stop always going to the exception of, well, I can't exercise because of. We can do movement even if we're sat in our chair. So that's a big thing for me the amount of times that I have been in a place and I've gone out and moved my body ran, lifted weights, gone for a walk and come back Like it's almost like someone's pressed a big old mental reset button and my attitude is like I'm almost like who was that guy?

Lindsay: 7:00

Yeah, who was that guy? And it's interesting I mean I've told this story to clients who have worked with me for years. But one of the things you know, whether it's either of our daughters, to be fair at this point but when there's a lot of stress or there's a lot of anxiety, or, you know, there's maybe tension and somebody's angry or somebody's fighting or whatever you know our youngest daughter I literally could put on a dance song and grab her hand and start swinging her around and she will resist it, she will smile, she will try to resist it she will love it and then eventually we just start dancing and it's just that release.

Lindsay: 7:34

And that's kind of what we're talking about with the kettle or that. You know, just get into your body, out of your head, and whatever was going on in that moment is gone, and I don't mean it's gone forever and I don't mean you can't come back and talk to it, you figure it out, etc. But get into that body. Just have a little bit of sometimes fun. If it's a dance party, sometimes it's a run you feel good. But just get out of the head and into the body right, a pro tip for this is.

Ben: 7:56

I mean, you know, we all have to admit that we spend too much time on our phone, right? So if you replace, replace 20 minutes of doom scrolling with movement. It can be whatever you want go for a walk around the block, lift some weights, have a little dance.

Lindsay: 8:09

Whatever it is you're going to thank yourself absolutely, and I know, you know, years ago I remember, um, you know, talking to a personal trainer over in england and we were chatting, you know, just in terms of clients and stuff like that, and one of the things that they said is that it is a lot easier to in the uk, specifically to get people to work with movement than it is necessarily to work with medication. And again, I'm not saying one or the other if medication is needed, medication is needed, but we often forget that getting it out of our head and into our body will help with that stress and anxiety. Will it take it away? No. Will it help support it?

Ben: 8:45

yes well, in the uk it's actually prescribed, right? So they actually prescribe a membership to a gym or a personal trainer as a way to tackle anxiety and stress right, which I love, I love so much absolutely, and it's not a drug solution, it's a movement solution. I think that's great. We can certainly do more of that. So number two, right kind of these overlap a little bit, but it's this whole idea of goodbye, thunk, hello, motivation, right. I feel like I feel just yeah right.

Ben: 9:13

And then all of a sudden I get moving my body and it kind of turbo charges your mood right.

Lindsay: 9:17

It gives you that lift yeah, this is a perfect example. Last night, our oldest daughter did not want to go to dance and she's she's in a bit of a funk herself. And I said to her, like it's better to get out of the room, it's better to get off your phone, it's better to just go and dance. And she was reluctant because, let's be honest, when you're in a funk, the last thing you want to do is, well, first of all, listen to your mom, but second of all, you know, do the thing. And I even said to her I'm like I'm ready to take the wrath if I made a bad decision, if I'm pushing you to do this and it's a bad decision. And ultimately, she came out of dance last night and she was feeling better. Was she perfect? No, but was she out of her funk, where she was doom scrolling on her phone and all of those things? Absolutely.

Ben: 9:54

Right. So if you think about regular workouts, again we go back to hormones. They boost serotonin and they also boost dopamine. Are those feel good um neurotransmitters? So they, they help with happiness and motivation. The challenge we have now is that one of the reasons we go to our phone is we're looking for that cheap dopamine.

Lindsay: 10:16

Quick fit, that cheap one of the reasons we go to food exactly.

Ben: 10:20

We're looking for that cheap dopamine hit. Right, it's cheap. It's what I would call pleasure versus happiness. It's shallow, right, and it's short lasting, right. It lasts for what, like? You're eating that thing and then you finish it and then you feel like shit, so it's really short. So one of the things about exercise is it's going to give you that same dopamine hit, but it's long lasting and it's happy and it's pleasant, right, and it's coming. It's the right stuff we're going after.

Lindsay: 10:45

And I think to remember with that right, we're not talking about going for an hour run or doing hours in the gym. You could literally jump up and down, if that was possible, with your body for one and a half minutes and feel that hit that we're talking about. We're just so used to going to the food or going to social media or going to the doom scrolling now that that feels like our normal. So we just have talks the worst, yeah, tick, tocks the worst, and we've had this conversation so many times in our family. But it's, it's finding the, the trigger that says, okay, I really need a dopamine hit, I'm going to jump up and down or do some breath work or do whatever versus.

Ben: 11:18

I'm going to go to my healthy dopamine that's long lasting and it's the good, the good stuff versus the cheap stuff. The cheap hits. Yeah, and you know, like we had said, exercise has been shown to be effective, either on its own or with an antidepressant, for basically just uplifting mild to moderate depression. So you feel better. Right, and don't underestimate it. Like am I saying the first time you work out you're gonna be like, yay, it's got to be consistent yeah right.

Ben: 11:45

It's not something you do once. It's something that if you start to go for a walk, if you start to to do some light movement and you do it consistently, you are going to feel a lift in your mood, totally, even if it's just a temporary lift, for a couple of hours afterwards you're going to feel like you've actually done something that you said you were going to do.

Lindsay: 12:03

Absolutely, and I think, too, you've got to keep this in mind. And this is really important to understand is that you know, my favorite quote is you'll never regret a workout you've already done. But I'm not jumping up and down out of bed in the morning to get my workout in. So if you're looking for that, that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about, once you start and your heart starts beating and you're feeling a little bit breathless and sweat may be here, and then you finish the workout and you feel amazing because you've worked yourself, you've pushed yourself. That's what we're talking about, and so if you're like doing your workouts and you're like I don't feel any much better, you're good afterwards. Right, let's look at the after, because the after is where the magic happens right, exactly.

Ben: 12:41

And number three is this idea of exercise kind of leads you towards this laser, sharp focus and productivity right when you move. It's amazing how it dials you in, like you're dialed in your ability to focus on something. It's it's, it's really powerful because of the physical activity. It improves the blood flow, which improve, improves the oxygen to the brain.

Lindsay: 13:05

There are so many charges that focus yeah, there's so many research papers out there now where, instead of doing boardroom meetings, we're doing walking me.

Ben: 13:12

What do you see?

Lindsay: 13:13

what I shared with you this morning, yeah, we posted it and it's one of those things where it's like you know, back when you know everybody, you know everybody got into the boardroom, they sat down and I know because I speak to clients who work in boardrooms and Zoom meetings and stuff, and sometimes we're falling asleep and sometimes we're not paying attention and our focus isn't there.

Ben: 13:41

If you were to take a pair of earphones and go for a walk, or if you're business meeting with your you know boss or your friend or whoever you're going to be in a place where you are in a better place.

Lindsay: 13:44

They actually say do you remember that? That what you posted this morning yeah, it's like walking meetings increase productivity and creativity by like eight percent and sixty percent, which you know, when you think about health and business, that's a win-win right. If I, if I had clients and I had people and I had people on my team who were being more productive and being more creative, you know, by any percent, let alone eight and 60%, that would be massive.

Ben: 14:04

Well, they often say that exercise, on a morning in particular, acts like an espresso shot for your brain, right? So if you think about what that means is, it's like sharpening your attention and your focus and your general energy. Now, I'm not trying to say give up the coffee. I'm saying double down, right, right, do it, do it and have your coffee.

Lindsay: 14:22

Yeah do it, do it both, and I think that's the thing right when we, when we think about the movement, and whether it's a walking meeting or a quick breath, work or a run or a gym session, you are going to have these things because that's what happens in our body physiologically, right productivity, creativity, productivity, creativity, focus, clarity. All of that is happening naturally because that's how our body responds.

Ben: 14:46

Right. So an action step for that is if you think about you've got a big call, you've got a big meeting, you've got something coming up at work that you're feeling it. You're feeling that anticipation. You know, if you go for a 10 to 15 minute walk before tackling like a high stakes call, you're going to have a significant improvement in terms of just your preparedness right, and what kind of goes back to what you were saying. You know it's um, productivity is up by 60. But if you've gone for a walk before sorry, productivity has gone up by eight percent. If you go for a walk, your creativity is bumped to 60%. You are just going to be so much more open to be able to deal with the things that are coming to you Right, and from walking, for 10 minutes and think about this.

Lindsay: 15:31

I mean, everybody knows when I say this, whether you work online, when you work in the office, whether you work at home, you know those days and I actually just had it this morning where I was sitting for a little bit too long right, whether a meeting went over or you know whatever, and you kind of get off out of your chair and you're just like oh my goodness, and this is where my brain is like oh, my body is getting old.

Lindsay: 15:51

But if you were to move and just even a little stretch or a little bounce on those feet or whatever before go into your next meeting, you're going to be better, you're going to feel better, your body is going to thank you, because when your back is hurting, your ass is hurting, all those things are hurting. It's not because you've been moving, it's because you've been sitting right. So let's work on that to help with the productivity, help with the creativity, the focus, the clarity, all of those things.

Ben: 16:15

Number four is a personal favorite of yours. It's sleep like a's, sleep like a boss Sleep like a boss, Not sleep like a baby.

Lindsay: 16:21

Whoever bloody picked that word is wrong. Who's ever had babies? You know what I mean.

Ben: 16:26

You're going to be moving your body, you're going to be exercising, you're going to be basically burning more calories, you're going to be putting out more energy. It's going to regulate your circadian rhythm right Like you are going to get to bed and you're going to be ready to sleep, and the quality of your sleep will improve. Yeah, the quality of your life, therefore, will improve and it's interesting.

Lindsay: 16:44

So ben's mom, my mother-in-law, is here from england and, um, she went out with ben the other day and they went for a walk and they went to the market and they did a few things and the next morning I'm always like, oh, how did you sleep? And she's like last night was like gold because fresh air and movement and you're going to sleep better. You know, when you're not doing those things, your sleep maybe some of you who are like good sleepers all the time amazing. But for the rest of us, doing that movement, even getting outside, having some sun, doing some some walking, it just means that that sleep is just that much better. Perfect, no better yes. No Better yes.

Ben: 17:21

And you're going to wake up. You're going to be mentally sharper, you're going to be emotionally more balanced, because when you have sleep, you know you're more patient. Sleep is the best, you're more patient. So from that perspective, you know that's going to lead to a willingness to do quality work, a willingness to work out which one of these things that gains momentum you know, a good thing for this is and we can talk about this and we've talked about it as well I'm a massive fan of morning workouts, right um.

Ben: 17:51

I'm also a massive fan of late afternoon workouts in actual fact. Late afternoon workouts, I think, are my body's favorite time but I pay a price, right, and the price is if I work out too late. I'm so wired I can't sleep right. So that's one of the reasons why we are always proponents of saying trying to get your workouts done earlier in the day.

Lindsay: 18:11

But if the only time to do your workout is in the afternoon. Workout completed.

Ben: 18:15

Workout completed, but again, it's going to happen. It's going to help with with sleep. You've just got to be careful not to, you know, work out and then really struggle to sleep, and then you wake up the next day and the opposite happens. You're tired, you're groggy, you're feeling less motivated, you're less likely to get your workout in, and then that inconsistency kicks in that momentum we were just talking about in the positive way, then comes back into the negative.

Ben: 18:43

Right into the negative right number five. Um, I love this one. So basically, when you're working out and when you're feeling good about yourself and when you're consistent, it's amazing how it picks your confidence up. You're more resilient to when things don't necessarily go as planned and you just all together you have like a mental toughness that you can kind of find gears like. You can kind of find gears that you didn't know you had and you can just kind of lean in to life a little bit more and you just don't fall apart, probably emotionally just more stable, would you say yeah, emotionally more durable.

Ben: 19:15

I was gonna say strong, durable.

Lindsay: 19:16

And I think the thing with this one is, you know, we always say, like celebrate, showing up, celebrate, you know, the discipline that you've created for yourself or outsourced to us. Celebrate that because the more that you can do that, the more emotional toughness, the emotional durability that the you know. And I say this because when I don't get enough sleep, I know that certain things hit me harder. But when I'm working out and I'm strong and I'm focused, I can handle things better.

Ben: 19:45

Right, right. So from that perspective, you know it's uh again. It just puts you in a position to be more successful, right? When you've worked with clients Linz and you see them show up consistently, how does it affect their self-esteem and confidence? A?

Lindsay: 20:01

hundred percent. It's just. I think it proves to themselves one that they can do it and they also show themselves that it's possible. You know, I have a client. Like I said, I had this. I had this call this morning with my client and she was saying she wasn't working hard enough, there's so much going on in her life, et cetera, et cetera. And again she was showing up, it wasn't working hard enough, there's so much going on in her life, etc. Etc. And again she was showing up it wasn't perfect, but it was what she could give at that time and that's the, that's the big part of that.

Ben: 20:26

I have so many of these things that just excite me, like when I think about this confidence, resilience, mental toughness. I actually think this is where I why I work out. I work out to regulate regulate my emotions, which we talked about earlier on. But the other thing is and I'm obsessed with this is this whole idea of embracing discomfort and challenges.

Lindsay: 20:45

Exercise does that right.

Ben: 20:46

When you're uncomfortable with exercising because it's tough and it's challenging and you're setting yourself up to do something that feels overwhelming and you lean into it, you build that resilience which kind of spills over into other areas in your life as well. Right, so you can. I'm uncomfortable, but I'm just doing it.

Lindsay: 21:06

Right, and we can do hard things. And I say this a lot and you know we often think that we can't, you know, and we can. And when you're pushing, you know a heavier weight than you thought you could push, or you're going a little bit further, reiterating the fact that it's possible, and so that mental toughness that yes, I know I got this, or you know, whatever it may be, depending on your day, it's just so much more powerful.

Ben: 21:35

You know what I mean? It's empowering. Actually, it is really empowering, like really empowering. You know what my favorite things is? When I work with a client and we jump onto a Zoom call and they're all ready to exercise. My favorite words out of their mouth are I didn't want to show up today, but I did anyway. Or I didn't want to work out and I did it anyway, and I'm like yes, exactly yes, because those are the days.

Ben: 21:57

Well, you're building that. That's a muscle, right? So, like I always say, you're going to get into a workout and you're working your body, you're working your muscles, you're working. If you're walking legs, etc. You're working and practicing, building the muscle, the physical muscle, right? Well, there's also a physical showing up muscle and if you meet your expectations by showing up consistently, it becomes second nature, right? If you make excuses for not showing up for yourself and making decisions that don't support your goal, then you actually build that muscle. So you build the that muscle. So you build the excuses muscle or the justifications why I didn't do it versus the I didn't want to and I just did it anyway and honestly, you can't build physical muscles until you build the muscle of showing up.

Lindsay: 22:41

Right and I think that's the biggest thing is that that that strength, the empowerment for yourself is massive and I love that so much Right.

Ben: 22:50

They're the top five Wow.

Lindsay: 22:52

I like them.

Ben: 22:53

I like them so we'll just give you from the top level. Okay, so just as a bit of a, a bit of a reminder right, your natural pressure valve. You feel like crazy. It's a perfect way to do it. Right, release it. Mood motivation. Number two right, you can change your mood by getting into your body and out of your mind. Number three all about productivity and focus. Right, If you've got something big that you want to tackle and you're not quite in the right space, move the body and I guarantee when you sit down you're going to feel that pickup, sleep, sleep.

Ben: 23:26

We love our sleep quality and if you do struggle with sleep, you know leaning into the exercise is going to help that, right for sure. Not saying it's going to be perfect, but it will be better guaranteed, yes. And then, obviously, last of all, is just that confidence, resilience and mental toughness. Who doesn't want those five things in their life?

Lindsay: 23:44

absolutely, and I think you know we always talk about this podcast as something that you can take away with, and, of course, all five of those are incredible If you can look at one, just one to implement.

Ben: 23:54

Which one would you take away?

Lindsay: 23:56

For me. Honestly, my big thing is the last one, the mental toughness, because confidence, resilience, mental toughness right, I know I'm stronger than I think I am sometimes and then oftentimes, course, my mind plays tricks on me, my inner bitch is an ass, um. But I love that feeling of you. Know, I've been, I've been doing a lot more heavier weights and I come out of out of my workout and I'm just like, oh my god, my arms are like jello, I can't move, and and it just feels so good. You know, at the time, yeah, it's tough, but afterwards it's just so good and that.

Ben: 24:28

For me I think primarily the ones that speak to me is mood. I love exercise as a tool for managing my mood and I think the other part of that is just using exercise as a precursor to actually getting down, putting my head down and doing deep work, productive work, get that done and then just take that momentum into actually completing a task. I think that's the areas that, for me, I just love it yeah, and we would love to hear from you.

Lindsay: 24:56

I mean again, you can contact us on the podcast platform. You can send a message to either Ben or I, but we'd love to hear from you, because everybody is different. Everyone will take something different away from this conversation, but I think honestly, if one or two of those really hit home, let us know, tell us what you thought yeah, let us know the ones that you think you're best at, that come more naturally, or the ones that you've conquered, mastered not necessarily come naturally, but the ones you feel like I've just got this one, this one works and which one you're going to challenge yourself at, because I think that's a big thing too.

Lindsay: 25:25

is that everything that we talk about on these podcasts? Everything that we say is is really challenging you to do a little bit better, a little bit more? How can it help you, how can it support you? So you know, if your conquered sleep is like superstardom but your mood is not so great, you know, maybe that's the one you want to go after.

Ben: 25:42

Totally, and it's it's remembering, as well as kind of a final sign off, that you know, know, it's like success. Success is earned every single day right, it's not. You don't just earn it once and get to keep it and all of these things are the same. They're kind of a work in progress. We are a work in process, these things are a work in progress and sometimes we've got one nailed and then it kind of falls off. We have to go back to it and work on it again.

Lindsay: 26:03

So it's pretty dynamic yeah, it's always moving, always changing, um, but we want you guys to take it, run with it, let us know your thoughts on it and, as always, we appreciate you being here listening to us for the last 26 minutes and if you have any feedback, we're always here for you and if you're stressed and this seems overwhelming, I just recommend you exercise right, just if you're like oh my gosh, this is too much information exercise.

Lindsay: 26:27

All right, guys, until next week. Have a fantastic one, and we'll talk to you later see you later bye.