Well, it’s already the end of January, and gym attendance has tapered off. The ongoing arctic blasts of cold weather and snowstorms didn’t help either. For many of us, our New Year’s Resolutions have taken a back seat to our regular daily activities for many. Did you make a New Year’s Resolution to improve your health, lose weight, eat better, etc., but haven’t maintained your promise to do it regularly, and now feel like you’ve failed…yet again?

I ask these questions not for you to judge yourself wrong, if you not actively engaged with creating the changes you desire.

But to remind you that each and every day is a new day, a new opportunity to begin again!

I know it’s challenging and difficult to change our behavior as humans. I have to remind myself often that I need to exercise. Sometimes I just don’t feel like it. But I’ve learned to ignore my reasons not to, and to just do it! To create a new habit, according to the latest research, you need to do it every day for at least 21 to 40 days.

Today and everyday you can begin again! So if you started this year with a commitment to improve your health by taking on a new habit, that’s fallen by the wayside, begin again!! It’s never too late. And as the saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Dangers of a Sedentary Lifestyle

Last week, the Washington Post published an article on the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. I wrote about the same research in my new book Superhealing. We now know that even if you exercise, you must move throughout your day if you sit at a desk. I intentionally refused to have a printer in my office, so I get up throughout my day and walk to the shared printer that’s about 20 feet from my desk. I also, get up frequently and walk for a few minutes throughout the day. Are you moving throughout your day, if you have a desk job?

And we also know that prolonged television viewing also shortens your life span, too!

Exercise Benefits

But the good news is that you only have to exercise moderately (30 minutes 4-5 times a week), and move frequently to experience the tremendous health benefits exercise provides. If the benefits of exercise could be put in a drug, it would be a global bestseller! Why? Here are a few of the positive, health promoting physiological changes and benefits of regular exercise.

Lowers your blood pressure
Improves your heart’s functioning (reduces the risk of heart disease and heart attacks)
Stimulate your brain to release growth factors to create new cells and other health enhancing chemicals (help to prevent memory loss, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease)
Elevates your mood
Protects all of your organs from the damage induced by chronic stress
Increases your bone density
Strengthens your muscles
Enhances your digestion
Improves your sleep

So if you haven’t exercised this week as much as you did the just a few weeks ago after New Years, I encourage you to begin again.

It’s never too late, and while New Year’s is a great time to begin, every day is a new day, and it is there for you to begin anew!

To your good health,

Dr. Elaine

Sources:

Superhealing: Engaging Your Mind, Body, and Spirit to Create Optimal Health and Well-Being
Chapter 5 pages 121-131 http://www.superhealingbook.com
Washington Post
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/the-health-hazards-of-sitting/750/