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It is relatively well known now that exercise releases endorphins that can help to pull you out of a bad mood and to aid in alleviating depression. However, mental fatigue and depression are hard moods to simply overcome. You may not wish to train for forty-five minutes to an hour. It might be too hard to even get down to the gym for this to occur!

Here is a good idea, instead of looking at your workout session in terms of an hour each time, shorten it.

Plan just fifteen minutes!

Change the manner in which you train. All you need is your body, (preferably fresh) air, and your ability to breathe. You can do simple health and mood-enhancing routines at home in a very short time.

A good tip is to avoid doing exercises that require minutes in between to recover. Make sure you are constantly doing physical activity for those fifteen minutes. This will keep your mind occupied and remove the chance of thinking about what it is that is bothering you. Those nagging problems won't have an opportunity to take hold of you training in this manner.

By the time you have reached fifteen minutes of continual movement through deep breathing exercises those endorphins will have kicked in and you'll be feeling great! No need for an hour of gym based training.

Now, after you have done this for just fifteen minutes, perhaps you will want to go to the gym. Perhaps you will want to do more. Or perhaps not.

The point is this. If you allot fifteen minutes each and every day to simple body movement and breathing exercises you will feel a lot better than if you just go to the gym twice a week for forty five minutes and while there you train in a disjointed fashion!

Essentially be your own gym. If you learn certain health and mood improving deep breathing exercises you at least have a choice. Either just do them for ten or fifteen minutes each day or do them and do a standard gym session. In essence, you utilise your breath to wake you up and get the endorphins to kick in so to speak, and this provides the impetus to do more.

Beginning is half done. When you awaken yourself using deep breathing exercises you are much more likely to want to take the day by storm!

Try the following examples for easy to do, and access, exercises using nothing more than your ability to breath and using simple body movements.

1. Standing up straight, hands by your side, expel all the air from your lungs. Raise the hands, bringing palms together above the head, making a full inhalation at the same time. From this position slowly allow your arms to drop back down to your sides while expelling all the air from your lungs. Try this ten times.

2. Standing normally swing your arms forward while rising up on your toes. While doing this inhale deeply. Then as your arms swing back and behind your body bring your heels down and exhale. Make this a dynamic movement. Perform for twenty to thirty repetitions.

3. Standing normally inhale deeply while gently bridging backwards (not too far!) and then bend forwards exhaling all the air from your lungs. Come back to normal standing position and repeat ten times.

Try these three for now focusing upon breath first and body movement second. Use them as a short circuit in the morning or any time you need a mood enhancer or quick increase in energy levels!

Have at it!

© Tim Webb 2005