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Unknown Hey everyone. Steven here, Autistic YouTuber and
welcome to Tostemac. If you've been watching my livestreams for the past few months, you
probably know that I am currently in the process of losing weight to take better care
of myself and to avoid any future trips to the E.R.. This has involved making changes
to my diet, as well as adding exercises to my regular routine.
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Over time, though, I began to realize that there is mor
e to gain
from exercises than just losing my potbelly. Let's talk about it. Exercise can be a rather unique
experience for autistic people in particular, both for the benefits and some of the challenges
that autistic people or other neurodivergent individuals may have to face. Let's start with
talking about the challenges first so we can spend the rest of the video focusing on the benefits
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and my advice for you, okay? Okay. Some autistic people, myself inclu
ded, may experience
low muscle tone which can impact their muscles’ ability to maintain posture and perform certain
functions, meaning that those with low muscle tone will have to put in more effort to get their
muscles going. Additionally, exercise is not for the sole purpose of strengthening one's body.
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In many cases, there are social elements involved, such as learning, communication, motor skills
and proper behaviors. Lastly, some methods of exercise inv
olve working with other people, which
can be hard to do if someone has difficulties with hanging around other people or has their eyes
glued to smartphones and tablets all the ti- Wait a minute. No, no, no, wait!
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Don't leave yet! We're getting to the good stuff now, I promise! Yeah. Nice save
there, dude. I would certainly hate to think that I made the rest of this video for nothing.
Sorry. Ah don't worry about it. No problem at all, probably. Some of the el
ements listed here
could become second nature to a neurotypical, but for some autistic people or
other neurodivergent individuals, this can be a little harder.
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Please note though, that I said harder, not impossible. Exercising
is highly recommended for everybody, regardless of if you're neurotypical or neurodivergent,
as there is much to gain from this experience and I'm not just talking about weight loss or
building muscles. The benefits of exercise can gr
ow far beyond that. For instance, exercise can
help improve well-being and emotion regulation, along with reducing certain habits
that can cause self-injury or be disruptive and aggressive.
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Before I added exercises to my regular schedule, I'm going to
be honest, I had been struggling quite a bit in my work place for the past few years. I've had
several moments of anxiety throughout the week, which in turn had led me to lose focus at
important moments. Not t
o mention, I couldn't keep my emotions in check all the time.
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However, as the weeks of exercise turned into months, I began to see a significant
improvement in my performance. I'm able to focus better. I'm able to have conversations with
customers a little bit more. And I've had much fewer moments of anxiety throughout the work
shift. It hasn't completely gone away, mind you, but I can safely say it is getting better.
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It also
doesn't hurt that exercises involve repetitive actions to help
provide stimulation or release pent up energy in a positive way. If this sounds familiar to you,
it should, because this can be seen as an example of stimming, something that many autistic people
love to do on a regular basis anyway. In fact, if you commit to more vigorous exercises for at
least 20 minutes a day in, let's say three days a week, you may find that you might stim less often
throughout the day as the workout will r
elease a chemical from your brain called endorphins,
which will reduce stress, alleviate pain, and improve your overall mood.
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There is one more benefit that I want to share with you a big one. In a way,
exercises can help autistic people engage with their environment more, which could hopefully lead
to making friendships and building strong social connections. What do I mean by that? Back when I
was in grade school, me and my classmates would always look for
ward to P.E. class.
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It gave us more freedom, more fun activities to do, more chances
to interact with classmates and friends, and most of all, not have to sit at a school
desk for more than an hour or so having to regurgitate information on a piece of paper which
we will most likely forget in the future. But that is my personal opinion. Now
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was I any good at the sports during P.E.? Not really, but even though
I sucked at the
sports most of the time there was more to gain from those times than just a passing
grade or being good at sports. As I mentioned, it gave me more time to chat with my friends
freely, more so than I could have with most other classes with their rules.
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So it wasn't a complete loss. I still had fun and was able to
make good connections with people, which I still have to this day. Granted, it might not always be
easy to find exercises and activities that lets
you engage with the environment and other people
more, but if you're willing to take the chance, I assure you the possibilities are worth it.
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These are just a few of the many benefits that exercise can provide for you
and if you're thinking about starting to exercise, well, now is as good of a time as any. Here's
some advice: When you're first getting started, make the exercise sessions a part of your
regular schedule. Make it a part of your routine. That wa
y, you will be more
committed to the exercise sessions as opposed to just exercising
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whenever you feel like it. If you can be sure that the exercise sessions
occur around the same time of day each time, be it either in the morning, some time in the middle
of the day, or in the evenings. Now me personally, I prefer exercising in the evenings. That way,
when it's all said and done, I could just rest, unwind and get better sleep.
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wn
But you may find that it might be better in the mornings to get your body up and running for
the rest of the day. So feel free to experiment, see which time of day works best for you. And
while it's important to set up the exercise days, it's equally as important to set up rest
days. If you're constantly working out every single day with no rest
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you're going to find yourself dropped dead exhausted sooner rather than
later, and often times with little to s
how for the effort. Your body, or more particularly your
muscles, need the time to rest because as you are exercising there are micro tears going on within
the fibers of your muscles. Now don’t worry this is not something to panic about right away.
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These micro tears are the reason that you feel sore after an exercise,
and when the muscles are given time to rest those micro tears can be repaired and fused to make
the muscles stronger. But if the muscles are n
ot given the time to rest, it can lead to more
fatigue, more muscle strains, and a reduction in your performance in the exercise
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not to mention other negative effects. Keep this in mind when you're setting up
the schedule, you want to make enough time for the exercise routines but also schedule rest days
in between. Remember when the Avatar mentioned three days a week? That's a good starting point.
It gives you enough time to exercise as a start and allows r
est days in between.
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Now, as the weeks go by and you get better at the exercises, then
you may want to move on to exercising every other day you get more exercise, more chances to grow
the muscles, but you still schedule the important rest days in between. The final piece of advice
I have for you and this topic is more from me personally than anything else
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and I'm not talking about diets right now. We could talk about that in
a future video. Right now, the advice I have for you is see if you can pair up with someone. Have
someone do the exercises with you so you could push each other to go further, encourage each
other to not give up or maybe even compete with each other in friendly competition.
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I have to be honest with you, I think the main reason that I'm able to keep up with the exercises
for as long as I have is because my older brother Daniel is there with me doing the exer
cises along
with me. We're able to compare notes. We're able to talk about different ideas about exercises and
keeping healthy and there were a couple of times when I felt down, defeated even, and Daniel was
there to tell me to not quit, to keep going, that the results will be worth it.
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I got to say, I owe a lot to Daniel for keeping me on this
path, let alone getting me started on it. But um if you could do me a favor, please don't tell
Daniel about this.
I will never hear the end of it. You could choose to exercise by yourself, but
I highly recommend giving this a try at least find someone to exercise with.
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Push each other to go further and most of all,
have fun. I hope this video will give you a good starting point to begin your
own exercising journey. If you have any more questions about this topic or want to
share some of your experience with exercise, tell us about it in the comments section below and
c
ome back later tonight where we will have a live stream talking more about this.
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This time I mean it. On that note, it's time to end the
video. Thank you very much for watching, everybody. Don't forget to like subscribe
hit the bell icon all the good stuff that makes Tostemac grow and until the next
video or live stream see you later.
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