5/17 Thursday Day 17 SLBC: Make Your Day Harder
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themedalist
Posts: 3,215 Member
Theme: Make Your Day Harder
Last week I mentioned that there are 3 strategies to keep in mind if you want to make sitting less a lifestyle change. We've already explored 2 of them:
1. Find and implement changes in your daily routine that will result in you sitting less and moving more. Look for ways to do the things that you want or need to do, but modify them so that you are sitting less. (your "One Thing")
2. When you sit, make it a point to get up and stretch or move around for a couple of minutes every 30 minutes.
Now let's add the third:
3. Look for opportunities to increase your step count and add more movement into your day. These opportunities may be sporadic and not part of your daily routine, but they happen with a frequency and regularity that makes them something you can count on and use to your advantage.
A colleague might email you about an issue and you respond by going to talk to them in person. You might need to purchase something from the shop in the mall located on the second floor, so you take the stairs and not the escalator. And grocery stores and other shops you frequent almost always have plenty of parking for people willing to walk a minute or two. Be one of those people.
Dr. Mike Evans wants us all to take these opportunities to be more active through a campaign he calls, "Make Your Day Harder". Of course, on the surface, "Make Your Day Harder" sounds like the worst marketing slogan ever. Who would want to do that? Yet these small steps have a disproportionately big impact in reducing our risk of diseases and chronic illnesses. By making our days a little harder, we will be making our lives easier. I'm in for that and I hope you are too!
Today's Challenge: Watch the "Make Your Day Harder" video posted below and then seize any new opportunities that come your way to add a little more movement into your day.
Alternative Challenge: Try setting up a more active morning and evening routine. When you get up in the morning try going for a 5 minute walk or add a few yoga stretches to your evening to relax and make it easier to sleep.
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Very good video. An eye opener as how much technology has, to be honest....helped us become a lazy. I love this idea about making our day harder. This challenge has been very insightful to me personally.3
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Very good video. An eye opener as how much technology has, to be honest....helped us become a lazy. I love this idea about making our day harder. This challenge has been very insightful to me personally.
So true, @PinkyPan1. Technology has allowed us to become way too sedentary. Computers and smart phones are a big part of that, but so are our labor-saving devices. Doing laundry in our grandparents and great grandparents day was an all day effort and involved a lot of physical activity. Laundry had to be scrubbed on the washboard and then hung out to dry. There were no buttons to push. The idea of going to a gym to exercise would have been laughed at. Maintaining a farm, working at a trade, or keeping a household running meant moving around a lot with physical activity that doesn’t exist today.
The video impacted me as well. I think by making our day is a little harder, we can make our lives easier. Public health researchers suggest 50 to 80% of diseases and chronic illnesses can be avoided with lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet, exercise, not smoking, and not sitting too much. Our daily choices matter greatly.
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love the video thanks for sharing it its so true how little we move due to not having the need any longer my house is so automated by my geek of a husband I have to find alternative ways to get myself up and moving daily3
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Yes! I noticed now that with my Garmin I am not registering as many steps as I am supposed to. I need to step up my game. Thanks for the video.1
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I’m working on how to reply using quotes but not very successfully, so I’m creating my own version...
@themedalist said:
“Public health researchers suggest 50 to 80% of diseases and chronic illnesses can be avoided with lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet, exercise, not smoking, and not sitting too much. Our daily choices matter greatly.”
I saw my doctor a couple of weeks ago and I was so happy to hear him say those very words. I think the message might be finally reaching the medical community that it’s better not to prescribe drugs immediately. By allowing their patients to make a serious effort to let their bodies heal themselves through lifestyle changes, doctors empower their patients. I have a nerve impingement that causes my leg to feel numb and painful at the same time. He wants me to lose weight and walk more to help heal the problem. He said he could give me a drug for it but it would just mask the problem so we opted for lifestyle change instead. That’s why my “one thing” has been so important and and I’m excited that I was able to increase my steps just by making one small change, reading and walking. Thank you, Denise, for the nudge I needed to find a solution.
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This video is so great! Technology really has made our generation less healthy, and it is so sad. I do Tweak My Week, starting with Move It Monday. I have finally scheduled exercise into my week as well as doing things like parking far away, getting up to get things instead of planning all the things I'll need for a task before I begin (which will eliminate having to get out of the chair), so embracing inefficiency is my secret to making my week harder.
Yesterday, on one of my mini-walks, I walked past the elementary school as it was getting out, and it did my heart good to see some of the children walking home with their parents. Good for 2 generations!
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I’m working on how to reply using quotes but not very successfully, so I’m creating my own version...
@themedalist said:
“Public health researchers suggest 50 to 80% of diseases and chronic illnesses can be avoided with lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet, exercise, not smoking, and not sitting too much. Our daily choices matter greatly.”
I saw my doctor a couple of weeks ago and I was so happy to hear him say those very words. I think the message might be finally reaching the medical community that it’s better not to prescribe drugs immediately. By allowing their patients to make a serious effort to let their bodies heal themselves through lifestyle changes, doctors empower their patients. I have a nerve impingement that causes my leg to feel numb and painful at the same time. He wants me to lose weight and walk more to help heal the problem. He said he could give me a drug for it but it would just mask the problem so we opted for lifestyle change instead. That’s why my “one thing” has been so important and and I’m excited that I was able to increase my steps just by making one small change, reading and walking. Thank you, Denise, for the nudge I needed to find a solution.
I like your doctor, @nebslp. I think it’s very empowering to know you can shift the odds in your favor by developing healthy habits, at any age. Genes are not destiny, we can change the odds.2 -
This video is so great! Technology really has made our generation less healthy, and it is so sad. I do Tweak My Week, starting with Move It Monday. I have finally scheduled exercise into my week as well as doing things like parking far away, getting up to get things instead of planning all the things I'll need for a task before I begin (which will eliminate having to get out of the chair), so embracing inefficiency is my secret to making my week harder.
Yesterday, on one of my mini-walks, I walked past the elementary school as it was getting out, and it did my heart good to see some of the children walking home with their parents. Good for 2 generations!
“Embracing inefficiency” I like that @77tes ! And it’s great to hear of parents walking home with their kids after school. They catch up and walk. Love it!2 -
I have a little story from yesterday...
I was at the hospital for a procedure that I had to be sedated for so I decided I was going to walk up the 2 flights of stairs to the floor, as I knew I would need to be picked up afterwards and take the elevator back down. The hospital staff stopped me and tried to get me to use the elevator up. Granted I do use a cane but I refuse to give up. I suppose they're used to people taking the easy route.
I thought you might like that one.
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I have a little story from yesterday...
I was at the hospital for a procedure that I had to be sedated for so I decided I was going to walk up the 2 flights of stairs to the floor, as I knew I would need to be picked up afterwards and take the elevator back down. The hospital staff stopped me and tried to get me to use the elevator up. Granted I do use a cane but I refuse to give up. I suppose they're used to people taking the easy route.
I thought you might like that one.
WOW! That is amazing! Thanks for sharing.0 -
I have a little story from yesterday...
I was at the hospital for a procedure that I had to be sedated for so I decided I was going to walk up the 2 flights of stairs to the floor, as I knew I would need to be picked up afterwards and take the elevator back down. The hospital staff stopped me and tried to get me to use the elevator up. Granted I do use a cane but I refuse to give up. I suppose they're used to people taking the easy route.
I thought you might like that one.
That is a great story, @bcTRAI! Yes, I think hospitals aren’t accustomed to patients trying to make their days harder. Good for you!0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPuRLil4c0
