DYSAUTONOMIA exercise advice

October is Dysautonomia Awareness Month that aims to empower the 70 million people worldwide with this condition in its various forms. So in this video, I'll run through my advice for exercise if you suffer with it. Hi everyone and welcome to Exercise for Health and Dysautonomia is a general term for disorders that disrupt your autonomic nervous system. This is a component of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary physiological processes such as your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion and body temperature to name a few. The most common variant of this condition is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or POTS for short, where the heart rate increases rapidly when you get up from a sitting or lying position, making you feel dizzy or lightheaded, similar to what is experienced if you have low blood pressure. However, POTS symptoms can also include fainting, heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, shaking or sweating, brain fog, weakness and even extreme tiredness or fatigue. Although you can try and avoid the things that trigger your symptoms, it may not always be easy and lifestyle choices and decisions can very much be influenced by an increase in your anxiety levels. However, regular exercise is just as important as prescribed medication for this condition, so here is my advice if you're taking that first step. Firstly, everyone will be at a different starting point depending on whether your condition has left you bedridden for years or whether you have a full-time job on your feet all day. So the exercise you choose will largely depend on what your current level of fitness and conditioning is. However, if you haven't exercised in a while or your condition is very debilitating, then you'll need to start very conservatively to determine your exercise tolerance and build it up gradually over time. It may be that you start with only exercising in a lying position first, such as performing bed or floor exercises like the glute bridge or leg lifts lying on your back or the clamshell or straight leg raise lying on one side. In addition, some gentle stretches in a lying position may also feel beneficial to start with and they can be done multiple times throughout the day if required. If you've moved beyond this point and you can tolerate exercise in a seated position, then you may be able to incorporate some light cardiovascular training into your regime. Using a recumbent or recline exercise bike or a rowing machine for a period of around five minutes may be a great start point. Again, you would start slowly at a low intensity and gradually build up the length of time or intensity when you feel that you can. If you have access to a pool and you're confident being in water, then swimming can be an excellent source of exercise as your body will pretty much be horizontal and the pressure from the water will help prevent orthostatic symptoms. Some yoga or Pilates practices may also be good, especially for the core muscles, providing they don't involve standing exercises. If you get to a point where you can sustain exercise for 30 minutes or more without triggering any symptoms, then exercising at a moderate intensity, this means feeling about a five, six or seven on the zero to ten rate of perceived exertion scale, on three or four days a week will be optimum. You should also try to place emphasis on exercising the leg and core muscles to help minimize symptoms, because you may well be spending less time standing during the day as a way of managing your symptoms and this will have resulted in leg and core muscle weakness. So if you have access to a gym, look for strength machines that allow you to work the leg muscles in a seated or reclined position, such as a leg press, leg extension or leg curl. If you're at home, then you'll need to invest in a resistance band so you can work the leg muscles without having to stand. Most direct core exercises can be done lying down anyway, so shouldn't be an issue. Additionally, using resistance machines that allow you to stay seated while working the muscles of the arms and torso can also be of benefit, but some people with POTS find their symptoms increase when they lift weights above their head. After a period of about three to four months participating in a regular exercise program, you may be able to attempt more upright exercise activities. These include an upright bike, walking or jogging, using an elliptical trainer and some may even be able to do squats, providing it's done in a slow controlled manner. By this point you should be able to tolerate most activities of daily living, which will help reduce anxiety levels and generally make you feel much better. The time of day that you choose to exercise will vary from person to person, but if you find it difficult to sleep, then try exercising in the late afternoon or early evening, as this will be the best time to combat insomnia. Exercising in the heat however is not recommended for people with POTS, and it's crucial that you stay hydrated during any form of exercise. It's also probably a good idea to have an exercise buddy when working at a higher rate of intensity, or if you're in a public facility, make sure the staff are aware of your condition so that they can keep an eye on you during your workout. The tachycardia or fast heart rate in POTS patients is due to a low stroke volume, this is the amount of blood pumped in the heart during every beat, and we know exercise increases stroke volume as a long-term adaptation, so it makes sense why people with POTS have found that regular exercise over time reduces the severity of their symptoms. I'll leave a link in the description below to a program that was developed for younger people with POTS by a cardiologist in Texas that may also be of benefit to some of you. So in summary, start conservatively and the aim should be to build up your exercise tolerance over a three to six month period. Also note that I provided advice for people living with POTS, but if you have another health condition that has caused POTS, or you have a health condition not related to it, then you should also take on the guidance for this as well to provide you with the right course of action to exercise. I hope the information provided in this video helps guide you to a form of exercise that manages your symptoms. If you found it useful, then please give it a like by clicking the thumbs up button below, and consider subscribing if you haven't already. You can also check out the description for ways that you can help support this channel, but thank you so much for watching, and until next time, stay active and keep moving to feel better!