How To Increase Your Exercise Motivation By Cooling Your Hands

If you refuse to exercise because you quickly get hot, sweaty and tired, there may be an easy solution to increasing your exercise motivation by cooling your hands.

Researchers at the Stanford University in California have found through a small study that keeping the palms of your hands cool may increase your motivation to exercise longer.

The researchers tested 24 obese women who typically have a difficult time exercising because they quickly get hot and tired. Half of the women used a device that kept their hands at 60.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and the other half had their hands kept at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The group with the warm hands dropped out of the study quickly. The group with the cooled hands stayed in the study for 3 months and had the following results:

1. They reduced their 1.5 mile walking time by 5 minutes.
2. Reduced their waist size by almost 3 inches.
3. And lowered their resting blood pressure and raised their exercise heart rate.

In general, the group with the cooled hands

• felt cooler while exercising
• was able to exercise longer
• was more willing to continue on an exercise program.

Apparently, keeping the palms of your hands cool, allows the blood vessels in your hands to remove enough heat from your body to help you feel more comfortable while exercising. This in turn helps you to improve your exercise motivation enough to continue with an exercise routine to help you improve your overall health and fitness.

A few inexpensive ways to keep your palms cool while you exercise are

1. hold two refrigerated bottles of water in your hands while you exercise. The extra weight will also exercise your hand and arm muscles.
2. hold two refrigerated ice packs, like the Blue Ice Pack, in your hands while you exercise. You may find that the ice packs are easier to hold.

Charles