Look down. Are you happy with what you see? Let me guess, you’re sitting down. Maybe, like me, you sit down a majority of every day. You sit down so much that it has become a habit – a bad habit. We all know exercising has benefits – weight control, combats health issues, improves mood, boosts energy, promotes better sleep, and can even improve your sex life! If exercising is so healthy for you, why don’t you do it more often? I have lots of excuses. I’m too tired. I don’t have time. I don’t get a break from the kids. Exercise is boring. Do I need to list more? How about this one: I’m lazy and “it’s healthy” is just not enough to get me off my butt!
Our distant ancestors didn’t need to read a health blog to motivate them to move. They often walked or ran a dozen or more miles a day just to be able to eat and feed their families. (I complain just having to go to the grocery store! Wow, I really am lazy!) We were designed to move. In fact, our organs and brains thrive when we stay in motion most of the time. Being healthy is not a mystery. Exercise circulates and delivers oxygen and hydrogen throughout the body, enabling all the organs to perform their vital functions. Are you slouching while reading this? I’m slouching writing it. Exercise also helps build and maintain the muscular-skeletal structures and regulates the nervous system, both of which are critical for maintaining good health.
So the real question isn’t why we aren’t exercising. The real question is do we want to look and feel like a superhero? I think we can all say yes to that. Exercise can help (superpowers not included). The great thing is that exercise doesn’t feel like exercise when you’re having fun. You know what I mean. How many of us have gone to a concert and danced all night long? Exercise snuck up on you, didn’t it? Here are five simple solutions to getting more exercise:
• Solution 1: Don’t have time to go down to the gym? There are numerous exercise videos on cable or on the internet. Select a style that works for you and get moving!
• Solution 2: Too tired to exercise? That’s like saying you’re too hungry to eat. Nutritionist Samantha Heller, MS, RD, says, “Contrary to popular belief, exercising doesn’t make you tired – it literally creates energy in your body. Your body rises up to meet the challenge for more energy by becoming stronger.” Were you too tired to dance all night at that concert? Change your clothes, find a fun workout near you and boost that energy!
• Solution 3: “Won’t somebody please think of the children?” – Helen Lovejoy – The Simpsons. Alone adult time away from the kids is refreshing. All parents dream of those wonderful Zen moments when you don’t hear the kids breaking your favorite set of dishes because they just finished watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding and thought it looked fun. But we live in the real world and it isn’t always possible to get away. So, how about exercising with your kids? Interactive video games get us up off the couch and moving. Are you a soccer parent? During their games or sports practices walk briskly around the field. Not only will you benefit but you will set a good example for your kids as you spend quality time with them.
• Solution 4: I get bored exercising too. So stop doing those exercises at that place. I’ve learned that the feeling of boredom comes from disengagement of the mind from the body. Many exercise practices are designed to engage the mind as much as the body, and when you learn to bring the mind to the body while you exercise, you will no longer feel bored. Instead you will find a deep fascination with exercise. It may even provide that much needed Zen.
• Solution 5: Did I mention exercise can improve your sex life? Unconventional exercise, like having a sex life or dancing all night at a concert, counts too! But if you really want to increase your flexibility, mix in some yoga (free Bo Yoga exercise guide: https://boyoga.leadpages.co/exercise-guide/). You won’t be the only one thankful.
