Health: Exercise Is Not Just For A Flat Stomach – Give Your Mood And Voice A Lift, by Ann Utterback, Ph.D

HEALTH:
Exercise Is Not Just For A Flat Stomach
… Give Your Mood And Voice A Lift

By Ann S. Utterback, Ph.D.

Want to add one thing to your daily life that
doesn’t take much time but will improve your voice and performance? 

Well, get moving!

We all know the benefits of exercise are enormous.
We read about it every day. Physically
fit people show lots of positive health traits, such as lower blood pressure,
improved blood cholesterol, lower resting pulse rate, less body fat, improved
capability in dealing with stress, and higher immune function.

The benefits are so profound that Covert Bailey, a
health and fitness expert, jokes about a “King Muscle pill.” If you take two after 30 minutes of aerobic
exercise, you’ll reap more health benefits than any pill ever invented.

The
pills are placebos. Obviously, it’s the exercise that makes the difference.

LIVEN UP YOUR VOICE

But how does exercise improve your voice over work?
The most profound thing it does is speed up the blood flow to the brain,
bringing much-needed oxygen to brain cells.

Sitting for as little as 20 minutes
can cause blood circulation to be a bit sluggish.

The result of this is that
our thinking is dulled. Our energy and
sharpness drop.

But a study at
California State University found that just 10 minutes of brisk walking yields
up to two hours of increased energy. And whose read wouldn’t improve from increased energy?

NO SWEAT OK

You don’t have to go for the “burn” to get
these benefits. For most people, a comfortable increase in heart rate is all
that’s needed.

You don’t even have to
break a sweat!

You no longer have to think of exercise as separate
from your daily life. It’s not something for which you have to have expensive
equipment or special clothes or a commitment that takes a lot of time and
effort.

A good motto to have when it comes to exercise is
that anything is better than nothing. A little moderate exercise goes a long way.

GET A MOOD LIFT

As a voice over artist, you get another benefit from
exercising. Performing an activity that
makes you slightly winded for as little as 10 minutes releases beta-endorphins,
serotonin, and other feel-good chemicals in our brains.

These make us feel
relaxed and drive down the stress hormones in our system.

Stretch this workout
time to 20 minutes, and you’ll get a mood lift for as much as 12 hours. 

And a study done at Queensland School of Human
Movement Studies found that participants doing only 60 minutes of moderate
exercise a week lowered their risk of
depression by 30 to 40 percent. 

Think
about that. If you get up and move for
just 10 minutes, six days a week, you lessen your chances of feeling depressed
next time you’re between jobs! This
seems like a no-brainer, especially when you also get the increased mental
sharpness.

WORKABLE WORKOUTS

So if I’ve got you thinking about adding some
exercise to your day, remember, it’s not complicated. You need to do something
that raises your heart rate moderately for between 10 to 30 minutes several
times per week.

What you do and where you do it are not too
important. You can run in place, jump rope, climb stairs, or work out on an
expensive piece of exercise equipment.

You can go to a health club or YMCA,
exercise in your living room, or go up and down your stairs at work.

You can
walk on the beach, walk on a treadmill, or walk down the halls in a hotel.

It’s not rocket science. You just need to move for a sustained period
of time as many times a week as possible.

Just get moving, and you’ll feel the benefits right
away. You’ll be healthier and your
voice and performance will improve because of that.

 

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ABOUT ANN