Staying active at home

March 19, 2020 | Education, Life with MS

Regular exercise is critical for maintaining good mental and physical health. However, the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown means that unless you’ve got a gym at home, many of us will struggle to keep our normal fitness regime. Without exercise, quarantine and self-isolation can leave us feeling down, agitated and fatigued.

We have found some resources for you so that you can maintain your exercise routines, even when at home, and ward off those blues.

Guided workouts

Gilly from MS Get a Head Start created a video for us, to help people with Multiple Sclerosis stay active at home.

The Multiple Sclerosis Trust (UK) produced a series of videos with guided workouts that you can do at home.  These videos are suitable for all abilities and include exercises to improve your balance, strength and flexibility. Click here to view these free exercises.

You can find exercises at MS Gym and on Instagram. For more advanced workouts, check out Bobie Linnan, who has MS and runs virtual boot camps for which you can sign up. Popsugar offers free exercise videos that are designed for a general audience.

Guided Yoga

People with Multiple Sclerosis benefit from yoga, and is something you can easily do from home.

Dr. Allen Bowling, in Optimal Health with Multiple Sclerosis, 2014 summarizes the existing research on yoga and concludes: “Yoga is relatively inexpensive, generally safe, and may potentially improve multiple sclerosis symptoms. One rigorous MS clinical trial found that yoga decreased fatigue. Other studies in MS and various other medical conditions have reported improvement in anxiety, depression, fatigue, bladder function, pain, spasticity, weakness and walking.”

Here are some free online resources:

• Multiple Sclerosis Society (UK) offer a short series of guided yoga practices for people with Multiple Sclerosis.
• EkhartYoga: find playlists that suit all levels and situations, including a practice that is specifically designed  for people with Multiple Sclerosis. They also offer a complete series for people with Multiple Sclerosis, which is available for purchase.
• Yoga with Adriene: find playlists that suit all levels and situations.

Exercise with Kids

Here’s a list of fun games that you can play indoors with the kids, to help them burn off all that pent-up energy – without tearing down the house.

Photo by Form on Unsplash