Getting Your Move On

Many, many people, myself among them, do not get enough exercise.

Now I'm not going to tell you that I can suddenly turn you into the kind of person who races out the door every day for a 10 mile run, but I think I can help you - and me - get moving more and gain the benefits of that activity.

You do want those benefits, believe me. Exercise strengthens your body, helps control your weight, and, thus, helps you live longer. Not only that but it cures depression.

Unfortunately, when you're depressed, you're also lethargic, but you don't have to go jogging for an hour to shake that off. Just walk down to the end of the block.

Go ahead and do it. Grab the recycling and take it down to the bin and then just keep going. Take a look around at what's happening on your street. Any new neighbors moving in? Flowers blooming in yards or windows? Kids playing? Houses getting painted? Garden gnomes? Trees budding? Animal tracks? Sleeping cats? Barking dogs? What's the exceedingly local news?

When you get to the corner, see how you feel and maybe you'll want to go all the way around the block. If not, don't worry about it. Come on home and do a little stretching inside.

Every day get 10 minutes of walking in. Just 10 minutes. That we can definitely do, you and I.

Comments

[nickb]

My tag onto your entry:
If you ride the bus frequently, know where the next bus stop that is a small walk that you can catch a bus at that'll get you where you're going is. If you miss your bus instead of driving to your destination or waiting for the next bus, walk to that farther bus stop if you've got time.

The best thing I did yesterday was miss the bus. I got to where I needed to go on-time, plus I got some extra unexpected exercise.

As for depression -- if you can't push yourself to exercise, you probably need to get on an anti-depressant, then make exercise a feature of your recovery.

[Alix]

U of Mich just released a study that people who exercise for body image reasons do so 40% less than those who exercise because they enjoy that particular activity. Which means it's "better for us" to do the exercise we love, than to worry about how it will help our hips.