Right now, there are big changes coming. Changes to my business and changes to my life. I am dealing with them. Just barely. But, I am dealing with them. But, because of this, I am experiencing a HUGE interrupt to my workout schedule. Workout days are getting missed. I’m having to move this workout to that day. That workout to this day. It is a genuine cluster.

While it is a genuine cluster, it is manageable. Manageable because the work that I’m doing is incredibly labor intense, and in some cases, its more metabolically challenging than the workouts that I normally do. How do I know? Because, at the end of the day I am TOTALLY WIPED OUT.

So, does this mean that I’m all good? Should I just be satisfied that I got an active workout done because I’ve worked so hard and I should just stop bitching? No. No, it doesn’t. Why? Because for me, and most likely for you, a workout is YOUR time. It’s your special rainbow-unicorn of a happy place. Yeah, a workout can be strenuous. Yeah, it can be physically challenging, but mentally it’s also incredibly relaxing. It’s an oasis for you to stretch out, use your muscles, and help you re-invigorate.

As it turns out, I am not the only one who feels this way. There is actual research that was published in the European Heart Journal by Holtermann, Schnohr, Nordestgaard, and Marott. Their article, The Physical Activity Paradox in Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality: the Contemporary Copenhagen General Population Study with 104,046 Adults was done in Copenhagen, Denmark (those crazy Danes) and looked into the physiological and health differences that exist with regard to both physical labor and working out.

Their study looked at approximately 104,000 (it’s literally in the title) men and women ages 20 through 100 and found that the more leisure-time activity that these people reported (meaning the more that they worked out for fun, not physical labor), the lower the risk of these people experiencing a heart attack or stroke. On the flip side, the people who got most of their physical activity from working on the job were at much more risk of experiencing cardiovascular problems.

But, what about Mental Health? Well, according to another article, Work-Related Physical Activity and Psychological Distress Among Women in Different Occupations: a Cross-Sectional Study, by Rhiannon White, Bennie, Abbott , and Teychenne, ”recent evidence suggests that work-related physical activity may not have the same mental health benefits as leisure-time physical activity”, and that “many people may complete the recommended amount of physical activity per week without completing any leisure-time specific physical activity and therefore, may receive no mental health benefit”.

So, now you know that even if we all did a bunch of physical labor, you and I would STILL need to get that workout in. Still need to take that “me” time for the benefit of our hearts and our minds. Your welcome.