As a personal trainer, I have worked hard to assist in improving the health and wellness of my clients, friends, and loved ones. Still, I find that people have a difficult time remaining involved in healthy living behaviors. It is not uncommon, as the number of people who are overweight or obese continues to rise throughout the world. As we continue to advance in technology, some of us have less and less opportunity to be active through our lifestyles. Parents are often not encouraging their children to participate in play activities that require being physically active. A friend of mine posted that the “social media” of his childhood was called playing outside. Times have changed, and many children spend their time in the house playing on computers. When they are not in the house playing on computers, they often have some sort of hand held device (a phone or video game) to play with. They may not even have safe areas in which to play or be unsupervised when neighborhoods often don’t have sidewalks or play grounds. In addition, with the schools having to cut back on gym classes, recess, and athletic programs, many children do not participate in physical activities at school. You have probably already heard that CDC has done research that indicates that this generation of children will not outlive their parents. It has become vital that we change our ways, but this is no easy task.
The focus of this article is being active. So what is the big deal with being active? Why is it so important anyway? There are several reasons to be physically active. Physical activity does a lot for the mind and body. Being active can:
– Improve circulation of blood and functioning of the heart
– Improve muscle and bone strength
– Improve endurance/stamina and functioning of the lungs
– Improve ability to perform daily activities with greater ease (such as carrying groceries, getting in and out of the car, walking up and down stairs, enjoying activities with friends and family that require lots of walking, and more)
– Improve brain function (memory, clarity of thinking, and more)
– Decrease disease risk (such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes)
– Facilitate weight management
– Decrease depression in clinically depressed individuals
– Increase self-esteem and self-confidence
It seems that being active is a necessary part of life.
Most people know that exercise has the benefits listed above, but knowing that exercise is beneficial doesn’t seem to be a strong enough reason for most people to exercise. Why don’t people exercise? Well, I have heard several reasons over the years, and they sound something like this:
– I don’t have time to exercise. I’m too busy.
– I don’t like to exercise. It’s not fun. It’s boring.
– I don’t like people looking at me when I exercise. It’s embarrassing.
– I don’t like to sweat and mess up my hair.
– Exercise makes me tired.
– Exercise makes it difficult for me to sleep.
– Exercise is hard.
– I can’t afford to pay for a gym membership. I can’t afford a personal trainer.
– Exercise doesn’t work. It takes too long to reach my goals.
– I don’t want to exercise. I don’t care about the benefits.
– I can’t exercise because I have an injury and I don’t want to make it worse.
– I just can’t stay motivated. I can’t stick with it.
Good, bad, or indifferent, these are the main reasons I have heard that prevent people from consistently participating in physical activity.
How do we overcome the reasons for not being physically active? A lot of the reasons have to do with 1) the way people think 2) prioritizing 3) motivation and 4) results. I am going to tackle these issues in the posts to come, and I will show you how most of these reasons can be dealt with.
Leave a comment about this article. What do you think? Why don’t we exercise?
~ Cece
Tags: active, exercise benefits, exercise excuses, fitness, food, fortunes, health, lifestyle, obesity, overweight
Posted in Blog
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