Nurses, do you exercise?

[nurseling]

I'm wondering if other nurses exercise on their days off. I started going to the gym at least 2 x week and feel it has made a tremendous difference in my overall mood and energy levels. I think it might be the endorphins but I was feeling a bit depressed between shifts at a time and exercise and healthy eating has literally reversed that.

Anyone else have any experiences with how exercise has helped or not so much in improving the quality of your life and inadvertently the quality of your work?

[trudeyRN]

Yes, I lift 3-6 days a week, even after a 12 hr shift and get cardio here and there. What I really need to do is incorporate yoga once a week.

I think we could possibly see less osteoporosis at some point as the result of the fact that women no longer avoid weights for fear of "getting big arms" or "looking like a guy".