Hey busy moms!
In this post we will talk about 5 habits we should build and how these habits will have a positive impact on our core (and health). We will also discuss how we can easily integrate these habits into our busy life without the feeling of overwhelm.
Habit is a routine or action that becomes ingrained in a person's daily life, often occurring subconsciously without requiring much thought or effort.
There are ‘good’ habits which are the favourable habits. There are also ‘bad’ habits which are unfavourable habits. Of course what defines a good or bad habit can be quite subjective.
Changing, building or breaking habits often requires conscious effort, as well as awareness of any triggers, rewards, and routines associated with the behaviour.
Now based on personal experiences and feedback from others, I have found that it is much easier to build a new habit vs. breaking an old habit. For example it is much harder to quit drinking coffee. It will take more effort and provoke more emotions. However, drinking water or taking supplements will be easier. It will still take effort but it will have a lesser toll on the psyche.
Developing new habits can take time and it definitely tests our patience. It is all about consistency, commitment and persistence. As to how long it takes to build a habit can vary from person to person. The point is to never give up. A failed effort is an effort. No effort is nothing.
Now enough of the motivational speech and let’s talk about the 5 habits you will need to (slowly) work on in order to heal and strengthen your core. (Please don’t run away after reading this list. I have some fun suggestions on how to tackle them!)
5 Habits to build for a healthy and stronger core.
1. Water
Let’s get that H2O in our body. I mean you already know the importance of water. And you also know you need at least 2L a day. Water helps with healing of tissue, elasticity of the tissue, increase circulation and also gets those bowels moving. When healing your core (abdominals or pelvic floor) you want to avoid constipation. If you are constipated often, drink more water and look into Fiber rich diet. I would also recommend seeing a naturopath to address this issue. A self abdominal massage can also help.
While constipated, try to fight the urge to bear down. When you bear down, you create a lot of internal pressure. If you are trying to heal a gap in your abdominals (Diastasis Recti) or heal a pelvic floor issue, this can make the problem worse.
So take out those colourful water bottles you bought over the years, give them a good wash and fill them up!
P.S. Here is a blog post I did on the importance of drinking water for optimal Pelvic Health.
2. Meditation
In the last decade, meditation has become a mainstream form of lifestyle. It has so many benefits that I would need a separate blog post to list them all out. So instead read this amazing post on the benefits of Meditation.
For the purpose of this blog post, we are going to look at how meditation can help with our core.
Meditation helps create awareness and helps you re-connect with your body (mind-body connection). During and after pregnancy, you do lose (some if not all) connection with certain parts of your body such as your abdominal and pelvic floor. Remember both the abdominal muscles and pelvic floor are part of your core. You need to re-establish that connection again in order to strengthen your core. It will be really difficult to contract/activate/engage a body part when you have no awareness of it.
Meditation also helps with relaxation. When it comes to strengthening a muscle, relaxing a muscle is just as important. Carrying unnecessary tension in a muscle all day will result in fatigue and weakness. Based on my clinic experiences, I have seen far too many women who suffer from Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions because they have a tight pelvic floor. These women had lost the mind-body connection with their pelvic floor and had a hard time to relax their tight pelvic floor. So re-establishing that awareness and connection through meditation allowed these women to learn how to relax the tension they carried in their muscles. Again I will repeat, a tight muscles is also a weak muscle.
There are so many types of meditations out there. Which is a good thing because we can find one that appeals to us. I usually recommend Body Scan Guided Meditation. This type of meditation really allows you to reconnect with your body and find those tension spots. Here is a short Body Scan Guided Meditation I created for you. Give it a listen! And explore other options on YouTube once you get tired of my voice. 5-10 minutes of Guided Meditation will really help you on your healing journey.
3. Yoga and exercise
This is probably one of the least favourite habits. (Least favourite because it is hard to commit to or stay consistent). And I know that you knew this was coming. But hear me out. I find the reason why most moms do not exercise is because either they lack time or they lack directions. We get overwhelmed with the thought of even adding one more thing on our calendar. That is partially why I avoided exercising for a while after my first child. I just had NO time and I felt so overwhelmed with all the information on the internet.
My low back pain (due to core weakness) got worse over time. I was loosing precious time with my son as I was getting injured often. That alone was enough to get me motivated and start working out. I would always start out a 30 minute workout but barely get 10-15 minutes into it. It was frustrating but I decided to just do as much as I could before I was interrupted by a crying baby or other 100 tasks I still needed to get through. I stuck with just core exercises as that was my target. 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. After a few weeks I realized my back was not hurting anymore. A few months into it and I felt so much stronger.
I do want to add that I was doing basic core exercises. Nothing complicated or hard like front planks, crunches or bicycle kicks. Just simple exercises that taught me how to activate my core. This included posture exercises, breathing exercises, stretches and direct or indirect core activation. None of these exercises were meant to get me sweating or get my heart rate up.
4. Deep breathing
Deep breathing is a fundamental and powerful practice that plays a crucial role in healing and strengthening your core. The diaphragm muscle is the primary muscle that engages during breathing. The diaphragm also happens to be part of our Core system.
If done correctly deep breathing also engages the abdominal muscles, the pelvic floor muscles and the low back muscles. All of these muscle groups (including the diaphragm) make up the core.
Here is a very commonly asked question: Is belly breathing considered deep breathing? The quick answer is yes it is a form of deep breathing but it will not help your core in any way. With belly breathing you are sending too much pressure to the front of your stomach which will stretch out your abs. The abs you are trying to heal or strengthen. Not a good idea if you have weak abs because the excess pressure with belly breathing will end up spilling out of your abs, making the situation worse.
Instead you want to practice umbrella breathing or 360 degree breathing. Basically you are directing your inhale throughout your body. The front, back and sides. (Belly breathing directs all your inhale in the front only). Okay it is a little complicated to explain in writing so here is a quick video on YouTube by Dr. Sarah Duvall.
Another important tip I can give here is make sure your exhales last longer than your inhale. This is very important. Your exhales should last at least twice as long as the inhales. For example if you inhale for 4, exhale for 8. Or if you inhale for 3, exhale for 6. You need to empty those lungs completely (with your long exhale) before you take another deep breath in.
Again, we all have heard and read about ‘the hundred benefits of deep breathing.’ But deep breathing plays a very direct role on our core. Now practice deep breathing during your meditation practice and there you go busy mom! You just knocked 2 things off this list at once.
5. Good posture
This seems like an impossible habit to adjust for many. We have been stuck in a certain posture for a very long time. And you may be wondering what does posture have anything to do with my core?
Before we spiral down the path of negative self talk let me tell you about my posture story. Growing up I had the worse posture. I was that girl who would always walk around like I was avoiding the world. There was no eye contact with people because my head was always looking at my feet. I was a shy kid. Well that posture stuck with me through most of my life. After University I wasn’t as shy anymore. But I thought my posture was my posture. I can’t fix it unless I was aware of it 24/7 and constantly reminding myself. That seemed exhausting and impossible. So I did not make any effort.
Well turns out you don’t have to constantly correct your posture in order to improve your posture. Bad posture is muscular imbalance. Working on the right muscles helped correct my posture over time. Ya it took some time but at least I had my sanity. I didn’t need to set my alarm every 5 minutes to remind me to sit up straight.
So why posture?
Posture directly affects the alignment and engagement of the core muscles. A good posture means the core muscles will be in good alignment to engage effectively. Effective muscle is a strong muscle!
Poor posture also increases the intra-abdominal pressure in our abdomen. Try taking a deep breath while sitting up straight. Now take another deep breath in while slouching forward. Notice the increase in pressure in your abdomen. Too much pressure will cause a lot of strain on our abdomen and pelvic floor resulting in symptoms such as pelvic floor dysfunctions or Diastasis Recti (which we are trying to heal/strengthen).
Good posture also allows for optimal deep breathing. We have already looked at how deep breathing directly effects our core.
Good news! You can integrate a few postural exercises during your core/yoga workouts. It honestly doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to go through the basic postural exercises. As long as you do some during your Yoga/Exercise routine, you have knocked this habit off your list. Don’t you just love it when you can get multiple things done at once.
DO NOT PANIC
Alright I know this lists may seem daunting at first. But realize that these new habits will help you in many other aspects in life. I mean how many times have you heard ‘drink more water’ or ‘breath woman….breath!!!!!!’.
I know you are a busy mother. Me too! So let me give you some suggestions on how to tackle these new habits.
Tackle these tasks one at a time. We are already overwhelmed enough. It took me 1 whole year from 200ml water/day to 2.5L water/day. Take your time. Enjoy the process.
Another suggestion I can make is start scheduling in 10 minute chunks everyday to get these tasks done. You don’t need to spend 20 minutes everyday on meditation or 45 minutes on exercise IF you do not have the time to do so. 10 minutes a day is all it takes. And it is easy to schedule five 10 minute tasks on your calendar vs. one 45 minute task. That way you get more done and feel more accomplished which gives a surge to your dopamine levels. As busy exhausted overwhelmed moms we sure can use a kick of that dopamine.
Another amazing idea I have for you is try habit stacking. Life changing concept! Habit stacking is when you combine multiple tasks/habits together throughout the day. (Literally doing two things at once). Great way to build a new habit or re-enforce an existing one. I have a quick guide for you. 12 Habit Stacking Ideas for Busy Moms. We as busy moms are really good at habit stacking. So take just advantage of that!
Take a break during your period. Honestly. I can’t stress this enough. Here is a beautiful post on why you should slow down during your period. Work with your cycle, not against it.
REWARD YOURSELF! Please for the love of….please reward yourself. It can be big or small. It can be end of the day or end of the week. Be kind to yourself and reward effort.