Don’t Let Monsoon Lethargy Affect Your Fitness Goals
On a bright sunny morning, Arif freshens up and starts his daily fitness routine without a hint of lethargy. But, all the motivation to work out seems to vanish when he wakes up on a rainy morning. Moreover, he experiences fatigue, sleepiness, and low energy throughout the day when it is raining.
We can all relate to Arif when it comes to feeling lethargic in the monsoon. The important question to ask here is: Does our body’s biochemistry have to do something with it? Let’s find out!
What is Monsoon Lethargy?
We can all see our ever-so-energetic selves taking the day off every time it rains. All we want to do when it pours outside is to sleep in, nestled in our bed, procrastinating our way through the day. The continuous feeling of lethargy and tiredness also takes a huge toll on our physical fitness. You may be wondering why this happens.
We feel more tired and lethargic in the monsoon season because of the circadian rhythms that our bodies follow. These are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle, primarily affected by sunlight. These rhythms affect most living organisms, including humans.
Since we don’t get adequate sunlight in the rainy season, our bodies produce melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone. This results in lethargy symptoms like fatigue, sleepiness, low energy, changes in mood, in the monsoon season. Thus, if you’re feeling less motivated to achieve your fitness goals in the rainy season, you can blame it on the monsoon.
However, monsoon lethargy isn’t inescapable. You can drive all the monsoon lethargy away just by changing the way you approach your workout. In addition, there are some specific exercises that are specifically designed for beating lethargy and energizing you.
Achieving Fitness Goals in the Monsoon Season: 5 Effective Tips
Take a look at these five effective tips that will help you beat monsoon lethargy and keep fit during monsoon:
- Timing
Most people break their workout routine and change their workout timing because of the rains. Changing your workout timing contributes significantly to your monsoon lethargy by disrupting your body’s routine. So, don’t change the time of your workouts, even if it is raining.
Working out at a specific time of the day helps you achieve your fitness goals by avoiding discontinuity. Even if you can’t get to the gym or fitness center because of the rains, start doing indoor exercises like spot running and dancing to keep fit.
- Equipment
The unavailability of proper equipment is one of the primary reasons why people don’t consider indoor workouts. Investing in exercise equipment for your indoor workouts goes a long way in making your indoor workouts effective and interesting. Having a make-do gym at your home with the right equipment is the perfect solution to beat monsoon lethargy.
Exercise equipment such as resistance bands and skipping ropes offer a wide range of combinations for indoor workouts. Furthermore, a treadmill or indoor cycle also counts for a lot in beating monsoon lethargy and achieving your fitness goals.
- Exercises
Some exercises are specifically designed to warm you up and drive your lethargy away. You might not feel like carrying out a high-intensity workout routine in the monsoon. Perform these simple exercises that energize you immediately and keeps monsoon lethargy at bay.
Work up your entire body with jumping jacks which pump up your heart rate, engages your core, and strengthens your leg muscles. Target your hip abductors, calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes with lateral steps.
Engage your core and target your oblique muscles with Cross Body Oblique Crunch. Strengthen your thighs, glutes, and arm muscles with Squat Punches.
- Yoga
Yoga asanas can bring about all the difference in achieving your fitness goals in the monsoon season. A 45-minute indoor yoga session daily is perfect for staying active and fit in the rainy season. Perform simple yoga exercises that focus on strength, agility, meditation, relaxation, and awareness.
Include asanas like Cow Pose and Bridge pose to build up strength and flexibility. Other yoga exercises like Naukasana are great core exercises that are effective for muscle toning and strength. Perform the downward-facing dog for a full-body stretch.
- Healthy Diet
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the monsoon season isn’t just about working out and staying active. Sticking to healthy eating habits is equally important. Since you’re more susceptible to viral diseases in monsoon, following a healthy diet is much more important than usual.
Make sure you’re catering to the daily nutritional requirements of your body. Stick to a diet that includes adequate complex carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, fiber, and vitamins. In addition, incorporate immunity-boosting components in your diet such as citrus fruits, garlic, ginger, turmeric, broccoli, spinach, etc.
- Stairs
Stairs are perfect indoor exercising equipment that you can use if you can’t go to the park or gym because of the rain. Start climbing up and down the stairs for a few minutes and you’ll feel energy rushing through your body.
Monsoon lethargy can significantly affect your physical fitness. These six tips will help Arif and many others like him to avoid lethargy symptoms such as fatigue, low energy, and sleepiness. Meet your fitness goals by staying active in the monsoon season with the help of regular exercise, proper equipment, a healthy diet, and yoga.
