Exercise advice if you have an Underactive Thyroid

having an underactive thyroid can present you with a variety of symptoms so let's look at what exercise you can do to manage this [Music] condition hi everyone and welcome to exercise for health and hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid in most cases is caused by the immune system attacking the thyroid gland with the most common condition being Hashimoto's disease there are other causes but generally women are affected more than men and it can lead to tiredness weight gain depression and aching muscles if you've been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid then it's likely you'll be prescribed Leo thyroxin a medical treatment to help raise your thyroxin hormone levels however exercise and being Physically Active can play a key part in managing your symptoms so let's look at what's best firstly doing some low impact aerobic activity at a moderate intensity on 3 to 5 days a week would be the best start this can be walking swimming cycling or even doing a home exercise program similar to some of the workouts I have on this channel if you can build up to doing 30 minutes a day without feeling wiped out the day after then you'll be able to maintain the right balance between exercising enough to help manage your symptoms without doing too much that it will make you feel worse if 30 minutes is too much though you may start with just 10 minutes a day to begin with until your body adapts to the change and then gradually increase the volume over the following weeks or months secondly doing some gentle strength exercises will help boost your metabolism and reduce the likelihood of excessive weight gain exercises using your body weight known as calisthenics such as squats and push-ups are great for working big muscle groups and you can always adapt the exercise to make it easier or harder for example doing a wall press instead of a push-up on the floor or doing a shallow sit to stand without doing a full squat if you have access to a gym with resistance machines then start with a conservative weight we're lifting it between 10 and 15 times is challenging but manageable when this starts to become easy then aim to increase the amount of weight rather than the number of reps there are many ways of doing strength based training and again I have lots of workout videos you can follow along to at home on this channel that include both aerobic and resistance exercises to help people manage their health condition for various levels of Fitness so I'll leave a link in the description below so you can take a look at that after this video it would be best to do some form of strength exercises for all the muscle groups in the body on at least two days a week but this could be three days a week if it's something you're used to you will find with resistance or strength training there is a possibility that you will experience some mus muscle soreness one to two days after performing the exercises this is normal to begin with but should become a less frequent occurrence as your body gets used to doing it thirdly stretching and relaxation exercises that include a focus on breathing will help you feel better and can be done every day to not only help you recover from your exercise workouts but also to help your mind with managing your symptoms and day-to-day activities typically examples can include joining a yoga or pilates class or just doing some gentle relax stretches whenever you feel like you need it make sure that while performing any stretches you only go to a point where you begin to feel the stretch and hold it still for 30 seconds if during this time the stretch dissipates where you don't feel it then you can gently move into the stretch a bit more but ensuring that you don't overstretch while stretching it's important to focus on your breathing this should be slow and deep to help you relax and also to help relieve the tension in the stretch again the stretch should be mildly uncomfortable and not painful so if you find yourself breathing short and shallow you may have pushed it too far finally if you're an older adult over the age of 65 it will also be worth doing some balance exercises on two days a week this can be any type of position or movement that challenges it such as doing a Tai Chi class or some standing balance exercises at home I've done some sample gentle routines that you can follow for some ideas and I'll leave a link in the description below to these videos I hope the information in this video provides you with some exercise advice if you have an underactive thyroid if so please give it a like by clicking the Thumbs Up Button below and consider subscribing if you haven't already but thank you so much for watching and remember to stay active and keep moving to feel better hey