53. Feel Better Fast: Tiny Movement Shifts That Boost Mood and Energy

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This week on The Nurse’s Break Room with Jenny Lytle, RN, we’re ditching perfection and talking practical, real-life ways to move your body—without guilt, expensive memberships, or hours at the gym. Whether it’s 10 wall pushups or a one-song dance party, these tiny shifts can improve your mood, boost your energy, and strengthen your body and mind. Learn how movement impacts both physical and mental health, and discover ways to make it doable—even during your busiest days.

Why it matters:

• Movement reduces anxiety, stress, and depression
• Short bursts of strength and cardio protect your heart, bones, and balance
• You don’t need a gym—just creativity and a little consistency

Takeaways / Action Steps:
✔ Choose movement you enjoy—it’ll stick
✔ Try “habit stacking”: 10 squats after bathroom breaks, counter pushups while cooking
✔ Use bodyweight exercises—planks, lunges, squats—no equipment needed
✔ Get outside: a 5-minute post-meal walk is a natural mood booster
✔ Start small, be kind to yourself, and build from there

Remember: You’ll almost never regret choosing movement—only not starting.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Nurse's Break Room with JennyLytle RN.
So this week we are going tofocus on movement and how
important it is to fit littlebits of exercise and movement
that we enjoy into our lives.
And so it's commonlyrecommended that we get 30
minutes of moderate exercise sogetting our heart rate up a bit

(00:24):
five days a week, and that endsup being 150 minutes a week, and
that's something that can helpprotect us cardiovascularly and
just improve our overall healthand well being.
And it's not only a physicalthing when it comes to exercise
and movement, but it really hassuch an impact on our mental

(00:47):
health too, when it comes todepression and anxiety, that
exercise, the endorphins thatcome along with it and so many
different things biochemicallycan really have a huge impact on
how we're feeling, on how we'refeeling.
And so today we're just goingto talk a little bit about like

(01:07):
why, why it's important tofigure out what it is that we
enjoy doing and then how tofigure out little ways to
incorporate that into our day today lives.
And so it doesn't have to be abig long production.
It doesn't have to be a groupfitness class, although by all

(01:28):
means.
If that's something you enjoy,that's wonderful.
You get a lot of benefits fromthat as well, in addition to
just the physical ones.
That that being in a group issomething that's very helpful.
But if you're somebody whowants to do things a little more
solo, or maybe you're on abudget or a time crunch then

(01:49):
doing simple things at homewhether that be pulling up a
YouTube video or some reels fromsomebody that you know maybe is
credible, and making sure, ofcourse, that before you're doing
anything, that you're clearedby your doctor to exercise, that
you're paying attention to yourbody and you're not doing
anything that's going to be toomuch for you.

(02:10):
But then finding things that youlike to do and getting aerobic
activity is important.
Cardiovascular things, wherewe're breathing a little bit
harder, and that's somethingthat helps to work our heart and
our lungs, and that's important.
But that's definitely not theonly type of exercise that we

(02:30):
need to be doing, especially aswe get older, because strength
training is hugely important.
That's the type of exercisethat helps to build our muscles,
that helps to protect us andmake us stronger, and,
especially as we age, we need tobe considering things like

(02:51):
balance and our bone strengthand our stability, and so
strength training is somethingthat can really help a lot with
that, and there are plenty ofspecific workouts that you can
do for things like that.
There's weights and all of thatat the gym or maybe something
that you have at home, but thereare plenty of things that also

(03:13):
just use body weight that can bevery beneficial.
So things like squats and pushups and planks and lunges those
are just a few examples ofthings that can be super helpful
.
If you're wanting to be able todo things at home without any
equipment, then those are greatoptions, especially if you're

(03:35):
just looking to startincorporating some of that into
your day-to-day life.
Stretching is another thing thatcan really help us to feel
better, move better, and it'snot like it used to be Way back
when, when I was in school, wealways started with stretching
before we did anything else, andnow the science says that we

(03:57):
need to be more warmed up beforewe start stretching so that we
don't end up hurting ourselves.
So jumping out of bed and doingsome big stretches might not be
the best idea, but once you'vewalked around a bit and your
muscles are a little bit warmer,then it's fine generally to go
ahead and jump into those kindsof things, but being able to
stretch and just feel the waythat our bodies move and really

(04:22):
pay attention to how differentthings feel for us and any areas
of tightness, that maybe wehave, any areas where things
feel stuck or just uncomfortable.
Maybe that's something that weneed to look at.
The way that we're sitting ordoing certain things, can we do
those in a way that is morecomfortable?

(04:44):
And I know for me and you'veprobably heard me talk about
this massages are an importantpart of my self care and like my
overall wellness plan.
However, this year I have donesome things that have helped me
to stay in a better stateoverall.

(05:04):
But I also know that I havewaited way too long to go get a
massage, and I'm actually goingthis afternoon.
I have that planned and I knowit's going to be uncomfortable
because I've waited so long andI know that I've got knots and
muscles that are really tightand so she's going to have to
work hard.
I'm going to be a littleuncomfortable, but it's so

(05:26):
important to be able to do thosekinds of things and get our
muscles working at their best,and so it's not about having a
lot of time or a perfect plan,being able to just get in these
little micro bursts of exercise,even if it's hey, I'm just
going to stop and do 10 squatsor 10 pushups when I'm in this

(05:52):
particular place.
Maybe if I'm by one wall in mykitchen, then I'll stop and do
10 wall pushups or go for a fiveor 10 minute walk Right after a
meal.
I did that last week on mylunch break.
I was in orientation and I ateand I had driven to a park and I

(06:15):
just ate and then got out andwalked for a few minutes and it
was wonderful to be able to beout in nature and just take that
time to decompress and breathethe fresh air, move my body and
just just reset a little bit.
So the most important takeawayshere are think about ways that

(06:35):
you enjoy moving.
What are things that you enjoy?
And maybe that's turning onyour favorite song and having a
one song dance party in yourliving room.
In your living room Maybe it'sgoing for a short walk or going
for a run with a friend.
Figure out what it is that youlike and maybe come up with a

(07:00):
couple of times when you couldfit that in.
Okay, when I go to the bathroom,I will stop and do 10 squats
while I'm in there.
Stop and do 10 squats while I'min there or when I'm getting
ready to make supper.
I will do some counter pushupsthen and just start slowly and

(07:21):
sprinkle those little things in.
And that's something that I'vebeen doing, and some days I'm
better about it than others.
But I found that the more thatI do, the more I want to do, and
it's often that way with thehealthy things that we're doing
for ourselves, the things thatwe know make us feel better when
we do them, then we want to dothem more, and it's rare that
when you do something like thisfor yourself, when you take the

(07:43):
time to do something that youknow is going to help you feel
better and be a better versionof you, you may have a hard time
getting yourself to do it inthe first place, but chances are
really good that you're notgoing to regret having done it.
So until next time, rememberself-care isn't selfish.

(08:05):
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.
Have a great week.