Our body is constantly moving. Our lungs expand and contract as we breathe, our heart expands and contracts as it pumps blood to our body, our intestines are expanding and contracting while digesting our food. Whenever something is stagnant, it usually means it’s not healthy. The amount of physical movement in our lives is just as important!
When we are moving regularly, our bodies are benefiting in several ways. A few benefits include improved circulation, increased immune function, strong healthy bones, increased brain function, better digestion, and increased mood. It also helps prevent obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and forms of dementia! These reasons to exercise regularly are far more important and motivating than exercising for weight loss. Exercise is a vital nutrient that our body craves in order to function at a healthy level.
If you are interested in adding movement into your life, it is important to know that 
being consistent is more important than being “hardcore.” Just 15 minutes of exercise everyday will make a huge difference in your life and wellbeing! When you start exercising, make the goal to be healthy instead of to lose weight. When our goal is weight loss we may endure difficult exercising for a month or 2 then quit only to gain the weight back. If you don’t like to term “exercise,” think of it as active time. You can incorporate as much activity in your day as you would like. Take the stairs whenever possible, park further away, walk or bike to work. When getting into the habit of becoming more active, don’t be hard on yourself if you miss a day, a week, or a month. Remember that every day is a new choice and you can choose to make a healthy choice that day.
If you are already into exercise, an optimal goal to work toward is 60 minutes of movement every day. Make sure to diversify your work outs. Combining aerobic work outs (e.g. swimming, biking, running), strength training (e.g. weight lifting), interval training (e.g. sprinting), stretching (e.g. yoga), and core exercises (e.g. yoga, Pilates) will help your body reach optimal health. Interval training is the best way to burn fat and condition your heart. This means doing sprints or intense short bursts of exercise followed by gentle recovery periods. Intervals also increase human growth hormone ”the fitness hormone” which gives you more energy and promotes weight loss and muscle building.
If you are struggling to make movement a healthy habit, remember to make it fun! Join walking groups, a gym, exercise classes, recreational sports teams or hiking adventure groups. Try to get a workout buddy to hold you accountable. If you don’t like exercising with people, use your workouts as alone time to help you unwind. When it comes to changing your lifestyle habits, remember to be gentle with yourself. Congratulate yourself every time you do something healthy and remember that you are adding more movement to your life because movement is life!
-Laine Morales, D.C.
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