Exercise is good for you – whether you enjoy it or not, there is no getting away from that.
In fact, it has been called the ‘miracle cure’ on NHS websites. Recent research has even shown that it is the main approach that really works for arthritis.
Exercise helps you to lose weight, improve your mood, lubricate your joints, strengthen your muscles, improve your sleep, increase your energy and prevent future health problems. In fact it lowers the risk of early death by 30%.
If you’re still not convinced, there’s more – it lowers stress and the risk of stroke, diabetes, certain cancers, depression and dementia.
AND to top it off, it’s free!
Surely it’s worth doing some then? If a pill was marketed with the same benefits we’d be queuing up for it in droves.
Perhaps that’s where the problem lies… Perhaps that’s why so many of us simply don’t do enough of it or any at all. We’ve got used to quick fixes.
Modern society has encouraged us to become lazy. In most parts of the world we no longer have to hunt for our food or walk miles just to get from A to B. We have gadgets that have even replaced the work our grandmothers did – washing machines, vacuum cleaners and food mixers to mention a few. All have the effect of decreasing the amount of exercise we take.
In addition, screen-based technology encourages us to sit more. We have grown afraid to allow our children to play outside so they sit playing computer games instead, and consequently develop sedentary habits for life.
Recent research consistently proves that exercise is good for us, yet even faced with this evidence, we still struggle to make the effort to do it.
But it doesn’t need to be like that…
If the word exercise gets you running to the nearest sofa with a cuppa begin by thinking more in terms of moving…moving more…then a bit more, until you’re moving at a pace that leaves you slightly out of breath but can still talk.
Investing a small amount (about £12) in a pedometer is a great incentive to take more steps every day. Take a note of your daily step count and you’ll soon find yourself getting a bit competitive about it. Get your family and friends to buy one too and it will encourage you all to take those extra steps to see who can get the most in a day.
You don’t need me to tell you how you can increase your steps. Even jigging up and down on the spot to ‘fake’ your steps output for the day will benefit in a small way.
Small inputs added up throughout a day, week, month, year will build up and soon start to make you feel and look better. This in itself we become an incentive to…dare I say it… take up a bit of exercise.
Trust me, the pay back will be worth it, AND one day you’ll get to the point where that exercise ‘high’ feels so much better than a sedentary stint on the sofa.
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