Movement For Medicine

With the global events that have crippled our society over the course of the last two and a half years, people are becoming more aware of the importance of prioritizing their health. Unfortunately, our healthcare model has developed into a reactive treatment model to manage the ever-rising illnesses that plague our society and our inflated hospital budgets.  The Covid vaccine certainly revealed to many that we can become totally dependent on our healthcare system when we are subjected to feel vulnerable for our lives.  Rather than just reactively relying on our doctors and modern medicine advances to save us, we as a whole need to be proactive in maintaining and sustaining our health outcomes. 

We discovered, despite some people being vaccinated, that people still need to ensure that their individual immune systems are equipped with the proper armamentarium to be able to sustain us when we feel threatened by invading pathogens.  Similarly, when soldiers know, they are going to battle and entering enemy lines, they ensure they are wearing the proper protective gear in attempts to mitigate injury or potential death.  Society should learn from the events of the last few years to truly embrace a pro active approach to their individual health and well being through dietary and lifestyle interventions.

It is said that “movement is medicine”, so let’s start here and try to establish daily routines or habits to incorporate more activity into our day to day lives.  The Holy Bible states in Galatians 6:7-9 ” that we reap what we sow,” and the book of James 1:22 states, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, otherwise you are only fooling yourselves.”  If the book of life, which is the ultimate rule book, is giving us Godly wisdom, wouldn’t it be prudent to deploy these strategies for successful outcomes?

I’m far from the first person to say it, but exercise is essential for our overall health. Exercise helps boost your mood, improve immune function, relieves stress, increases energy, improves sleep quality, and overall contributes to lowering cardiovascular risks.

So, what are some simple strategies that we can exercise into our daily lives to incorporate more movement in our day to attain the cumulative benefits of being active?

Here are some easy tricks to get more active daily and NO it doesn’t require you going to the gym and doing a hard-core weight workout.

1. Start Small

A lot of people assume they need to run themselves ragged in the gym to get more fit, but that’s not true.  All you need is about 20-30 minutes a day. You can start with low-impact activity like walking which everyone can do (barring certain health limitations) and only requires a pair of shoes.  You can break up your walk into intervals throughout the day if you can’t sustain 20-30 minutes of continuous walking.  Remember, results are cumulative and at the end of the day you’re still accomplishing your goal of 20-30 minutes for the entire day.  Perhaps it’s walking for 10 minutes in the morning and then another ten minutes after dinner?  Also, don’t underestimate the number of steps you acquire throughout your day such as walking back and forth to your fridge or walking up and down the grocery isles gathering up all the healthy food that will fill your pantry😊.  Furthermore, when you arrive at the grocery store, try to park farther away from the front entrance way as to increase your step count for the day.  Remember, it all adds up!!!

2. Get Active At Work

Your workday doesn’t have to be totally sedentary. Rather than using your full lunch hour to eat, take some time to go to the gym, walk around the office or run errands.  You can also break up the drudgery of the day by taking a walk during one-on-one meetings instead of sitting at a desk or conference room—anything to get up and get moving.

      3. Do Exercises You Actually Like

This is an important one.  If you hate exercising, it might be because you aren’t doing workouts you enjoy.  Very few people enjoy running around in circles for miles. So, don’t.

Branch out and try different kinds of workouts until you find one you genuinely enjoy. Biking, skiing, surfing, paddle boarding, swimming, yoga, hiking, rock climbing, pickle ball, kayaking and ice skating are all fun activities that get your heart rate up.  This will require you to go out of your comfort zone and to be patient as you try things out, but it’ll be worth it when working out no longer feels like a chore.