If there were ever such a thing as a magic bullet to good health, it would probably be exercise. It keeps your heart and lungs healthy, lubricates your joints, decreases stress, lowers blood pressure, and acts like the fountain of youth as you get older.
In Chinese medicine, good health is all about maintaining flow and moving your Qi, which is the vital force or energy that sustains life and transformation. While this may sound a little woo woo and mood-ringy, when you think about it, everything in your body flows–blood, digestion, hormones, menses, and synapses. When Qi becomes stagnant it can cause all kinds of problems like pain, inflammation, depression, insomnia, and digestive complaints.
So we know that exercise is good, but for many of people doing it regularly is just so darned hard. And when you think about trying to maintain physical activity throughout your lifetime, it becomes overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Let me explain:
When I was a kid, my siblings and I didn’t consciously think about exercise; it was just a part of what we did. Summers were spent swimming; winters included skating, skiing, and sledding; and in between we hiked and played kickball.
I was lucky. Early on, the idea of physical activity included something that today we tend to miss out on, which is fun. We were active not because we needed to lose weight or decrease our risk factor for one disease or another, but simply because we were having a good time. And this idea of having fun while you work out is the one of the premises that author Michelle Segar puts forward in her book No Sweat.
Segar is a researcher and motivational expert, who has studied the science behind what motivates us to sustain physical activity over the course of a lifetime. The goal of lifelong movement is a worthy one, both in a Western biomedical paradigm as well as in Chinese medicine. In her book, Segar lays out a number of ideas and findings that play a role in whether or not we will be active for the long run. According to Segar, the reason many people struggle to exercise is that they do it for reasons that are not necessarily immediate or compelling. Wanting to be healthier or lose some weight works for about as long as a New Year’s resolution, but spending time walking with a good friend or the exhilaration skiing a scenic trail never gets old.
Segar also busts the myth that you have to be active for 30 minutes three times a week or do something cardio every day, or whatever you’ve been told. In fact, what she’s found is that everything counts. That’s right–walking the dog, biking the neighborhood, or playing tag with your kids (or grandchildren) all count as physical activity. Short bursts of activity–exercise snacks–help to improve your health and fitness, and they all add up. Think of it this way, if you only have 15 spare minutes today to do something active, which is better–doing something short or blowing it off because you feel like it won’t make a difference? Remember, we’re talking about lifelong physical activity here.
In her book, No Sweat, Segar includes a number of small personal assessments to help the reader determine what’s important and how to make exercise individual and enjoyable. Whether it’s social time, a way to feel energized, or just plain fun, your reason for moving your body needs to be relevant and meaningful. The good news is you can forget about the weight loss, risk reduction, cardiovascular thing, and start moving your body for the right reasons without a lot of “shoulds”. No sweat!
