Skip to main content

Exercise and Rest activate healing!



rebounding is fun!

Exercise and Rest, two components of health and healing that go hand in hand.  Movement is life, we need to be in motion but we also need to rest.  Both of these are important, especially if we are healing.


Let's talk exercise first!  

It's recommended we do moderate exercise 30-60 minutes per day, 6 days per week.  My Exercise of choice (right now) is rebounding. Other options could be walking or biking along with light weightlifting if you are physically capable.  Just start slow and build up.    


I chose to rebound and here are a few reasons why. 

I got released from the hospital on July 20th, right smack in the middle of the desert summer where most days it's 90 degrees out by 9am.....just too darn hot to be outside taking a walk.  I skipped on biking for exercise because of the heat but also because I may or may not be known to occasionally fall off of bicycles 😂🤷🏼‍♀️.  And I didn’t want to go to a gym since they are a petri dish full of germs, bacteria and viruses.  Not a good place for healing.


One of the other reasons rebounding was so appealing to me was because it's easy on the joints and I could sit-down and bounce until I built up my strength.  You see, after my surgery I had a 35 pound rapid weight loss which took a bunch of muscle with it so I needed to start any exercise regiment slowly.  Rebounding made perfect sense.


Another big bonus to Rebounding is it moves your entire lymphatic system.  Unlike our circulatory system our lymphatic system doesn’t have a built in pump so it’s up to us to make sure the fluid moves through the body.  The alternative is clogged lymph nodes with icky, gross lymphatic fluid that can lead to diseased bodies.  Since one of my lymph nodes came back positive for cancer I felt lymphatic movement and drainage was super important for me.  


Here’s the rebounder I bought and a couple of rebounding sites I follow.  

Rebounder: https://a.co/d/bIeqyoQ


Cancer Rehab PT, Kelly Reed: https://www.youtube.com/c/CancerRehabPT


I Jump Instead:https://ijumpinstead.com  These twins have a TON of rebounding workouts on their YouTube Channel as well as their IG account.  


I rebound 3-4 times per day and I break each of my rebounding sessions into 10-15 minute blocks.  This is just what works for me right now, until I can rebuild my strength and build back my endurance.  Definitely do what is best for you and if you are unsure I would consult your holistic health practitioner or doctor. 


Let's move on to rest!

Rest is equally important as exercise.  Your body heals while it’s resting.  You need a lot of rest and good quality sleep.  Sleep deprivation suppresses the immune system and you need a strong immune system to get well and stay well.  So, I shoot for between 8-10 hours of quality sleep each night and naps throughout the day!  Yes! Naps are encouraged, especially if you’re healing. TAKE NAPS 😴, lots and lots of naps. 


I’ve been very fortunate first during my surgery recovery and now throughout out my healing journey that I don’t have to work.  Keith has taken on this burden 100% so that I can focus on healing.  I do get to go every once in a while as long as it's an easy/short day.  This has been a blessing and has allowed for those very important daytime naps.  If you are on your own healing journey and have to go to work use your breaks to take a nap or at least try to rest, destress and clear your mind.  


I hope this blog post finds you all healthy, happy and stress free.  I would like to close out this blog with a bible verse, it's a verse that I love and have meditated on during my healing journey. 


Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) ~ But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 


Until next time…..keep joy in your mind and heart! 


Much love and many blessings, 

Ali 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Years Later: The Day Everything Changed — From Fear to Freedom

Yellowstone Lake May 2025   Two years later....my journey is my inspiration❣️ In the early hours of July 11, 2023—my 50th birthday—Keith took me to the ER. We didn’t know it then, but that day marked the beginning of a journey that would change everything. What we thought was a precautionary trip turned into a 10-day hospital stay, two emergency surgeries, and ultimately, the cancer diagnosis we never saw coming. It felt like the ground shifted beneath us—fast and without warning. That moment shook us to the core. But it also became the turning point. It led to one of the hardest and most personal decisions I’ve ever had to make: to decline chemotherapy. That choice didn’t come lightly—it came through tears, prayer, research, and a surrender I can’t quite explain. I opened my heart to God’s way of healing, and in doing so, found a peace that made no earthly sense but felt entirely divine. It’s hard to believe it’s been two years now since life threw us that curveball—a health scar...
20 comments
Read more

Ain’t Life Grand….living life on the right side of cancer 💕

Greetings from beautiful Wyoming! Hidden Falls - Jenny Lake / Grand Teton National Park  A quick update before I get into it - I moved all my blogs to a new platform and it’s so much better now (at least for me).  Please let me know your thoughts, I appreciate your feedback 🩷.  Ok, here we go!!  Some of you may be following along on our journey via facebook but for those of you who aren’t, here’s a quick update.   We kicked off our nomadic journey on March 11, 2025 (after living full-time in the RV since September 2024) and this has quite literally been the best thing we have ever done.    Keith and I keep asking each other why we didn’t do this sooner.    It all comes back to - it just wasn’t our time yet.    But here we are now and we are absolutely living our best life!  Workamping is a real thing - real companies do in fact hire people who live full-time in their RV for seasonal work.    We landed an awesome job ...
1 comment
Read more

When fear knocks….

A few days ago I was talking with my mom and shared with her a question that I had recently been asked: “How do you stay out of fear of recurrence or fear of cancer in general after your cancer diagnosis in 2023 and reaching NED (no evidence of disease) in 2024?”   When I was first asked this, my initial thought was “wow, that’s really hard to answer” and then a nano second later I remembered that it wasn’t hard at all: My God is bigger than cancer so my faith must remain bigger than my fear! That’s it! For me, it’s that easy!  Let’s be honest, when I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in 2023, fear came in fast and heavy. It sat in my chest like a weight, whispering worst-case scenarios and “what ifs” every chance it got. I think anyone who has heard the words “You have cancer” knows exactly what I mean. Fear tries to claim your future before you even have a chance to fight for it. But somewhere along the way - between doctor visits, alternative therapies, prayers, a...
Post a Comment
Read more