May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month!
Most people know that regular physical activity is good for everyone's Health, and that people of all ages and body types should be physically active. Physical activity can help to improve muscle fitness, cardiovascular fitness, can lower the risk of heart disease, can improve your coordination to help reduce the risk of falls and injuries, and the list goes on and on.
May is a great time to push the "reset" button and get yourself back on the path to a healthier you! It is also an opportunity to spread the word to others about getting more physically fit!
Here are a few tips/ideas to share to increase your Health and Wellness:
1. When trying to increase your
activity level, even the little things count.
Make choices such as taking the stairs instead of elevators or
escalators. When you go places, encourage
the driver to park further from entrances and exits. And finally, walk; jog or bike to run errands
when doing so is an option. These little
tips that you can do on a daily basis can add up to a healthier you.
2. Exercising alone is not
enough if you want to be the healthiest that you can be. Along with exercise, make your mission: Good
nutrition. Not only is eating healthy
good for you, it also gives your body more energy so that you can exercise
more. Exercising and Good Nutrition by
themselves are good things. If you put
exercise and good nutrition together, you’ve created a winning team.
3. Are you getting enough
exercise? Make your goal at least 30
minutes of exercise on at least 5 days of the week. Write down how much you exercised on each
day, and check to see if you are meeting your goal. Sometimes it helps to make a schedule or
checklist for yourself to help keep track of your exercise. Remember: exercise is more than just playing
sports or running. Walking, raking
leaves, cutting the grass with a push mower, swimming, skating, or even doing
chores can count as moderate exercise.
Make sure that you’re getting enough.
4. 30 minutes of moderate exercise on at least 5
days of the week is only a start. Many
people are very physically active and will need more exercise to achieve
fitness results. You may need to
exercise closer to 60 minutes a day or add 20 minutes of vigorous activity to
your 30 minutes of moderate activity on 3 of your exercise days. You can also add strength training such as
lifting weights to your routine.
Remember that everyone’s exercise routine will be a little
different. The point is to make sure
that we are exercising. Exercise for
Fitness. Exercise for Fun. Exercise for your Future.
Wildcat Wellness Challenge
In the spirit of National Fitness Month, I would like to propose a challenge to "LCS Nation." Let's call it the:
"Park Healthy Challenge"
(see what I did there...took the term "Heart Healthy" and replaced "Heart" with "Park" because it sort of rhymes and is a catchy term?!?)
Anyway, the Park Healthy Challenge is simple - for the month of May (and perhaps longer if you choose), try to park (or encourage your driver) to park further away from places than you normally would. Perhaps start with a few spaces further away. Perhaps park in the very back of the lot. Whatever you are comfortable doing - just try to increase your trip to and from your car. The extra walking will add up over the course of the month. Of course, if you are in a hurry or it is raining out, park close. But if not....Park Healthy!
