Top tips for staying active when you have MS

Exercise can be an important part of maintaining good health and wellbeing for people with MS. There is plenty of evidence that it can help with MS symptoms, like fatigue or poor mental health, but it can also help with general quality of life. However, getting started with exercise and keeping on going is not always easy.  

How do you get motivated to get some more movement in your life? We asked some people with MS and some MS experts for their top tips. 

Sometimes we overcomplicate things and think we have to pay for a gym membership or sign up with a personal trainer to start moving. Exercise doesn’t have to mean going to the gym or going out for a run; it could be something as simple as housework or a walk in nature.  

You're more likely to stick with it if it’s easy. You could set up some movement stations in your house. For example, do squats or heel raises when you are brushing your teeth. Perhaps some arm jogging every time there are adverts while you sit and watch your favourite show.  Pop the kettle on and do a spot of balance work while you wait for it to boil.  

How many times have you heard someone say "Oh I ate so much junk yesterday, today I better go and work hard in the gym to make up for that"? Often, we have been taught to think about exercise as a chore or a punishment for bad habits.  Try to reframe the words you use to think around exercise to make it less negative. 

Just a minute of arm jogging with a bit of gusto will improve your heart rate and get you breathing deeper. There is growing evidence to show that doing short bursts of exercise, rather than one great long burst, will improve fitness. This is sometimes referred to as "exercise snacking" For people with MS, when fatigue and heat can be a factor, exercising like this can really help.  

And by long run, we don’t just mean marathons! It takes time to find a way of moving you like, that you can build into your daily life and stick with it. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t notice a difference straight away, it takes time to build up strength and stamina. Take one day at a time and listen to your body. Like they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.  

Make sure you don’t overdo it, especially if you’re starting to exercise after a break or exercising is completely new to you. Listen to your body when it tells you to stop. You will get to learn how much you can manage in one go without leaving yourself exhausted. And remember that other important activities like work, cooking or parenting, take up energy too. Leave yourself enough in the tank to get through the day.  

It’s quite natural that on some days you’ll have more energy than others, so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t manage as much as you did yesterday.  

Getting an appointment with a physio or a personal trainer to get some help on how to get started can be a great idea. Or why not check our website out for more tips on exercises   

MS Therapy Centres are local charities that provide a range of non-drug therapies for people with multiple sclerosis. Some of them will offer exercise classes. 

Or you could get involved in local charities or organisations such as parkrun. Volunteering as a race marshal could be a great alternative to running that still gets you out and involved. 

Everyone can feel lethargic in hot or humid weather, but with MS the effect is often exaggerated. Try using a fan or a cold water spray when exercising or have a cool bath before you start.

It might sound obvious, but you'd be surprised by the number of people who hold their breath when they exercise. The MS Trust has a whole set of breathing exercises help to build your lung capacity and support comfortable breathing.

Have a trigger to remind you to exercise. Maybe when the adverts or weather come on the television, or while waiting for the kettle to boil. Have a certain time of day that works better than others? Some people have more energy in the morning, others during the day or the evening. Set a reminder on your phone for when your optimum movement time is.  

You are the expert when it comes to your MS, but it can take some trial and error to figure out when to push and when to hold back.

MS Trust resources on exercise 

• Exercise and MS webinar - a resource from the MS Trust
• MS Trust exercise videos - a series of exercise videos designed for people with MS
• Functional exercises to support everyday tasks - balance and strength exercises to aid stability
• Can exercise help my MS? - information from the MS Trust

Blogs from people with MS on exercise

• How keeping active helps with my MS symptoms - Fee blogs about how exercising help her.
• How swimming has helped with my MS - Jenny writes about how swimming has helped her MS.
• Parkrunning with MS - Katherine talks about why she got involved with parkrun. 
• Cat and Stanley get active - Cat shares how she is getting active with her dog Stanley.