Move Your Body, Improve Your Life

Did you know that, according to Harvard Health, the average person sits for around 10.4 hours a day? This is even more than the average person sleeps in a day! Physical movement has significantly decreased over the past years, mainly due to an increase in technology and modern-day luxuries. Many people find exercising inconvenient, hard, and feel that it takes too much work. Well…what if we look at the flip side? The part about how if you don’t exercise, your body may actually take even more work and effort to take care of than if you had just taken care of it in the first place.   

Sedentary people are more at risk for heart disease, cancer, and mental health problems, such as depression. There is also the most well-known problem, obesity, which leads to a multitude of problems on its own. Any of these problems takes a lot of work and effort to get rid of, and most of the complications that come from an inactive lifestyle are life-threatening. I wouldn’t say that any of those problems I listed sound fun… So here I’ve provided some tips on how to increase physical activity.  

First, I would like to cover the 'how.' You may be wondering, I’ve been living this way for so long. How do I start exercising? How can I establish a good routine? When can I find time? And finally, the hardest: how do I stick to my goal? Well, here are a couple of good options:  

Create a goal - yeah, yeah, I know you’ve heard this before, but writing down what you want to achieve that week on paper really helps to set priorities straight. Studies have shown that as little as 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week, increases people’s health significantly.   

Keep to your routine- even if you have a busy day ahead of you, just make time for a little bit of exercise. If your goal is 30 minutes for that day and you know that you won’t have time for that, just do a couple of push-ups or any other short exercise. Staying consistent is more important than getting the exact times in. As you stay consistent, your workout schedule will become more ingrained into your day-to-day schedule, and you will be able to work around it and find time.  

Stick to your goal- you are not alone if you are having trouble sticking to your goal. Almost everyone finds a point where they realize they weren’t very consistent and needed to improve, including me. Something you could do is decide if you want a punishment for not meeting your goal that day, or a reward for accomplishing it.   

An example of punishment is that you could say that you must pay your husband/wife, brother/sister, friend, or mom/dad a certain amount of money every time you don’t accomplish your goal.   

An example reward is if you accomplish that goal, you put a certain amount of money into a trip you’ve been wanting to go on, you buy yourself a treat that week, or you do something with your friends that you’ve been wanting to do for a while. Find the way that incentivizes you the most. Motivation is key to being good at accomplishing goals. Make sure you have someone to hold you accountable because this will also help.  

Finally, DON’T make excuses- this world is full of endless activities and events to participate in. It is very easy to just say that you will “do it later” or that you are “too busy,” “too tired,” or “too stressed” to fit one more thing in. But tying back to the first paragraph, it may be harder to come out of being physically inactive than it is to become physically active in the first place. Life is full of excuses; they’re easy to make, and many of them are probably valid reasons as to why you can’t exercise that day. Try your best not to make excuses, even if they are real ones, and focus on accomplishing your goal.  

Secondly, I will cover the WHY. Why would I exercise when doing other things is so much easier? What’s in it for me?  

At this time, people's mental health is really struggling. People are getting hit with anxiety, depression, and lots more. Physical activity actually helps to improve mental health and helps boost memory as well as the learning and judgment parts of your brain. When you exercise, it helps the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal gland axis function, and this, in consequence, reduces stress, which helps improve mental well-being. Exercise has also been shown to improve memory, focus, cognition, and decision-making for up to two hours after exercising. You can even experience something called the runner’s high. This is a feeling of euphoria after a long run and helps people feel happy and energized.  

Physical movement especially has a positive impact on physical health. It is well known that physical movement helps decrease weight, which then helps decrease a lot of other conditions that are caused by being overweight. How much you need to exercise varies depending on different factors of your personal health, so most people will need to figure out what works best for them. If your goal is to lose weight, make sure you are considering other reasons, such as dieting. Working hard won’t always be the main contributing factor, so you may need to adjust your diet or use other techniques.  

Being physically active also significantly helps with cardiovascular health and keeping your heart healthy and strong. It can reduce blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels. Physical movement helps to strengthen bones and muscles, which in turn helps you to age better. Muscles reduce as you grow older, and so regularly exercising and lifting weights greatly reduces the chance of falling, or things such as hip injury.  

In conclusion, physical movement is imperative to keep up on health and make sure that your mind and body stay healthy. Yes, it is hard, but as you set goals and consistently reach the top, you will experience fulfillment and happiness as your goals are being met, time after time. 

How much do you sit, stand, and move each day?

What a Sedentary Lifestyle Can Do To your Health

Benefits of Physical Activity

Role of Physical Activity on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Review