How is your physical health holding up right now? Did you know that physical movement is proven to help every area of your health and well-being? Most people know this, yet still find it challenging to make a workout a priority, especially when so many of us are wearing many different “hats” during the day. Mom, cook, cleaner, employee, spouse, and so on – and sometimes adding the task of exercising can make it feel like an unattainable item on the to-do list.
Try an experiment. Notice how you feel bodily and mentally on the days you workout versus the sedentary days. Understanding Dr. Bill’s teachings on how to “Make Your Own Medicine®” may also help shift your perspective and make space to honor your mind, body, and soul through movement (even if it’s only 15 minutes a day!). In our T5 (short for Transform 5) Wellness Plan, Dr. Bill explains his “ah ha” moment when he realized that we all have an internal pharmacy within the lining our blood vessels that release the medicines our bodies need when we move and avoid unhealthy foods. Movement is one of the most sustainable ways to feel your best. Immune system balance, lowering blood pressure, less inflammation, and an increased feeling of well-being due to endorphins are a few top benefits
Ways to sneak in movement throughout the day:
- A family bike ride
- Walk around the neighborhood or an open park
- Power walk with the dog
- Play tag in the yard
- Put on your favorites party clothes and have a dance party
- Practice isometric exercises while sitting at your home office desk or on a conference call (see video links below),
- Alternate mornings or late afternoon where each adult in the house gets a 30-minute window to do a workout.
- Start small. Achieving little goals will breed self-confidence, which leads to increased motivation
3 Favorite Ways to Move
1. Isometrics
Isometrics (meaning muscle fibers don’t change length during movement) are muscle-holding and toning exercises that require you to hold muscles under tension for as long as you can to feel the fatigue or “burn.” While doing isometrics simply think flex and hold. Time under tension (TUT) is the basic physiologic principle that gives you the greatest bang for your workout buck.
One example is a move called Sit Strong. Here’s how a habitual sitter can become a “mover.” Lift legs 4-6 inches off the floor and hold in that position until you feel the burn. Click here to see Dr. Bill lead you through more isometric moves.
2. Go outside and play- The Neuroscience of Nature
Here is an excerpt from The Dr. Sears T5 Wellness Plan:
“Do you suffer from indoor disease, a counterpart of the sitting disease? The “medicine” for this disease is just what Dr. Mom always prescribed for boredom and moody behavior: “Go outside and play!” Over the past twenty years, as I was healing from that life-threatening illness, I noticed I felt better – physically and psychologically – when spending more time outdoors, looking out windows, even placing my desk toward the window. As a show-me-the-science doctor, I wanted to study how nature affects what’s going on in our brains. Like most new mind-body believers, you might be wondering if all this psycho-nature stuff is for real. It is! Imagine before you take your therapeutic walk in the park you stop by your friendly neighborhood neurologist and get wired with cameras that peer inside your brain to see what’s going on in there when you walk out there. Called fMRI’s (functional magnetic resonance imaging), this technology reveals healthy changes in the brain when you go outside to play. Sit back and enjoy a journey into the health effects of the great outdoors and learn how nature nurtures.”
3. Breath Work/Yoga
Maybe this is the perfect time for you to try something new. How about yoga? I love this quote.
“The complex five-thousand-year-old tradition of yoga is about a very simple thing: happiness. Yoga helps us to remove all obstructing mental clouds, so that we may come to enjoy the sunshine within.” -George Feuerstein, Ph.D.
Yoga allows the body and the mind to connect through the breaths. Calm mind=calm body!
Click here for yoga videos.
In closing, balance is the key. Recognize that this is an unprecedented time in society which can bring lots of stress. Honoring your body and mind through movement will help keep you strong both physically and mentally – health benefits to help you tackle challenges one day at a time.
Cheers to Health!
Erin Sears-Basile
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