Energize! Energy boosts for nurses

Move More:  Exercise energizes the body and stimulates the mind.

What if there was a pill that would help ward off cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, Alzheimer’s, hypertension, osteoporosis and some cancers that would also help improve your mood and keep your weight in check, your muscles strong, your mind alert and stress more manageable? Oh, and give you energy, to boot? Sounds too good to be true? What if it could also help grow new brain cells, strengthen neurons and produce a potpourri of beneficial molecules that prime you for learning and memory retention? Of course, there is no such pill, but you can derive all those benefits with regular exercise.

Its magic bullet potential has become more evident since neuroscientists uncovered the role exercise plays in producing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that encourages brain cells to sprout synapses, the structural branches required for learning. “Moving the body keeps the brain growing,” says John Ratey, MD, Harvard psychology professor and the co-author of Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, has affectionately labeled BDFN as “Miracle-Gro for the Brain.”

So on top of its role in disease defense, exercise makes you smarter. Now that’s powerful medicine.

THE 10-MINUTE WORKOUT

What’s the best kind of exercise? The kind you do. Anything is better than nothing, and the more strategies you have, the more likely you are to be successful in making exercise a regular routine. To that end, we offer these time-crunching workouts. After a 10 minute-session you should have enough energy to blast through any shift.

Low-Intensity Combo

1. March in place: 1 to 2 minutes
2. Wall push-up
3. Squats to a chair
4. Wall push-up (repeat, one set, 10 repetitions)
5. Squats to a chair (repeat, one set, 10 repetitions)
6. Free dance—let loose, no one’s watching (3 to 4 minutes)
7. Cool down, lie down, stretch and breathe (1 to 2 minutes)

Moderate-Intensity Cardio

You can turn this into high intensity by just picking up the pace on the runs, and you can lower it a bit by making the “run” intervals into “fast walks.”

1. Walk: 1½ minutes, gradually picking up pace
2. Run: 30 seconds
3. Walk: 1½ minutes
4. Run: 30 seconds
5. Walk: 1½ minutes
6. Run: 30 seconds
7. Walk: 1½ minutes
8. Run: 30 seconds
9. Walk, gradually slowing down to cool down: 2 minutes

High-Intensity Combo

1. Walk in place or light calisthenics (such as jumping jacks): 1 minute
2. Jump rope: 2 minutes
3. Push-ups: all you can do in 1 minute
4. Crunches: all you can do in 1 minute
5. Jump rope: 2 minutes
6. Push-ups: all you can do in 1 minute
7. Crunches: all you can do in 1 minute
8. Relax and breathe: 1 minute

Wall push-ups: Stand arm’s length away from a wall; extend both arms and place hands on the wall, shoulder-width apart. Elbows are shoulder level. Now lean in toward the wall, bending the elbows as you come forward and straightening the elbows as you push away back to starting position. Do 10 repetitions.

Squats to a chair: Facing away from the seat, stand about 12 inches from a chair. Now bend your legs, push your butt out and bend forward until you are seated. Then put your hands on your thighs, push off using your legs and stand. Repeat 10 times. For non-beginners, let your butt touch the seat of the chair and come right back up, keeping tension on the muscles throughout the movement.

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