POSITIVE APPROACHES TO EXERCISE
Healthy from the Start Resources for Shiftworkers
Adopting a strengths-based approach to physical activity, which includes focusing on personal preferences and capabilities, can help shiftworkers to maintain regular exercise habits without pressure, guilt, or shame. Tailoring activities to what's enjoyable and possible for you encourages consistency, which is particularly important when your work schedule changes around a lot.
The pressure to exercise as a shiftworker, particularly after finishing a shift, can be overwhelming and unrealistic. Tiredness, fatigue, and competing commitments can make finding the time to exercise difficult. Instead of putting lots of pressure on yourself, and building up feelings of guilt or shame around not exercising, focusing on a strengths-based approach to exercise can help to embrace what you can do, rather than what you can’t do (38). This mindset can help to develop a sense of hope and self-empowerment, which shifts away from feelings of guilt or shame around physical activity. This is crucial, as experiencing enjoyment with exercise is a strong predictor of being able to regularly commit (39).
To implement a strengths-based mindset, start by using general exercise guidelines as a baseline, and then experiment to find what suits you best.
For instance, if you can manage a 10-minute walk after work, focus on doing that rather than pushing yourself for an unrealistic 2-hour gym session. This approach ensures you're not only taking care of your physical health but also supporting your mental wellbeing, making it more likely that you'll stick with your exercise routine in the long term. It’s also important to remind yourself of the enormous benefits that come with just a small amount of exercise – read more about the minimum effective dose here.
Experimentation is also important, as we all have individual preferences for how we like to move our body. We also each have individual strengths and limitations that make certain forms of exercise more enjoyable than others. There’s no harm in trying different things until you find something that works well for you. Read more about experimentation and finding your exercise style here.