Does “exercise” just sound like a chore to you? We’ve all heard the message: exercise is good for you! It helps you sleep better, improves your mental outlook and the list of beneficial effects on physical health keeps growing.The thing is, we don’t always love what’s good for us, and if you’ve been sedentary for a long time it can be very hard to get started.
Try thinking about being “active” instead! There are all sorts of ways to increase your activity level, and you can make it fun for yourself!
Make it social
Try spending some time with others while doing something active – the benefits only increase, along with the pleasure of having company! Some ideas for this:
Instead of meeting a friend for coffee, why don’t you grab a couple of water bottles and walk through a nearby park instead?
Have young children? Go outside and play catch (or whatever game is appropriate for your activity level) with them!
Join a class or group that sounds intriguing. What catches your fancy: Cycling? Archery? Belly dancing? Try something fun and meet some new people. Most groups are very encouraging to newcomers!
Make it enriching
Take the focus off the physical nature of what you’re doing and look outside yourself:- Find a local nature trail to walk through, and really pay attention to your surroundings (the sights, sounds and smells). Nature can be very soul soothing.
- Walk through an art gallery or museum and learn something new.
- Try just walking through a familiar area and looking at it from a different perspective.
Make it challenging or fun
Turn it into a game for yourself – some people find that keeping score is very motivating!
- Try an exercise video game – most games track your progress, and you can compete against yourself or an electronic character.
- Keep track of your steps using a pedometer or similar tool, such as “fitbit”. Challenge yourself to meet a particular goal (try 10,000 steps in a day) or convert your steps to mileage and add them up so you eventually walk to New York (or some other goal).
- Set a timer to go off every hour and find a way to just move for five minutes! You can do calisthenics or walk around a bit or just dance!
More ideas
Ideas abound on the internet! Here are just three links with some great examples and further reading:
Participaction (Canadian program with lots of resources online)
