July: Getting Some Physical Activity, Daily

Exercise is important. Studies show that regular exercise strengthens our muscles and bones, improves immune system function, lowers overall rates for cancer and heart disease, and extends life expectancy by 7 years on average.

Moreover, exercise can help reduce anxiety, stress and depression, improve memory and mental performance, promote restful sleep, boost self-esteem and help us enjoy more satisfying sex.

In short, we can’t create health and happiness without at least some amount of exercise on a regular basis – unless your work involves physical labor.

Despite all of the wonderful benefits of regular exercise, it can be challenging to create an exercise routine, especially if you’ve had a sedentary lifestyle for a long time – or simply dislike exercising.

From my personal experience, through trials and errors, successes and failures, I’ve learned a few things when it comes to exercising.

• I always feel better after exercising, even if I didn’t want to exercise to start with.
• The more I exercise the more I’m inclined to exercise, and vice versa.
• It’s better to do something small every day than to do something big every once a while. It’s better to exercise for 30 minutes every day than to do an intense workout once a week.
• I’m more likely to engage in activities that I enjoy, and with people whose company I enjoy.
• It’s important to balance aerobic exercise with strength-building and stretching exercises.
• It helps to create a schedule for exercising. For me, it’s usually between 6:30pm and 7:30pm.
• If I miss my routine, I tell myself “No shame. No blame.” I just pick it up and continue the next day.

So far my exercise routine involves a mix of yoga, Qigong, walking, hiking and dancing. It became a bit sporadic recently, because I was time-crunched from work and study. But I’m through the worst of that…

So in July I want to focus on exercising better. Specifically, I want to create a habit of walking for 10-30 minutes daily, and also incorporate some weight training in my routine – important for building lean body mass, which I’ve never really focused on in the past.

Flowing water never decays. Let’s get moving, shall we?

Image source: istockpoto.