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Beaver Medical Group.
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Why Aren't We "Just Doing It"?
Since the 1950's, health experts have been encouraging Americans to be
more physically active. And for good reason: regular exercise is the closest
thing to a "cure-all" that we have. Think of just about any
kind of chronic disease, ailment, disability, mental or emotional problems,
and regular exercise can benefit you in some way.
Recent research by Dr. Steven Blair at the Cooper's Aerobic Center in Dallas, Texas, showed that regular exercise can even benefit smokers! We now know that a non-smoking "couch potato" (totally sedentary person) is at a higher risk of death and disease than a smoker who exercises (sounds like an oxymoron, but there are people like this).
In other words, being a couch potato is a higher risk factor for health problems than smoking. Of course, someone who is a non-smoker AND regular exerciser is at the lowest risk of all.
In spite of this overwhelming evidence on the benefits of exercise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, www.cdc.gov) report that 60 percent of Americans (adults and youth) are not regularly active. It gets worse: 25 percent of Americans (adults and youth) are totally sedentary! One in four Americans are couch potatoes.
Given that more Americans are living longer doesn't help. According to the CDC, physical activity decreases with age. Women and certain cultural groups (specifically Hispanics and African-Americans) are more likely to be physically inactive.
If you do exercise, you're part of the 22 percent of American adults who exercise five times a week (for at least 30 minutes as session) or 15 percent of American adults who exercise three times a week (for at least 20 minute sessions).
Since most of us know that regular exercise is good for us, why are so many of us "not just doing it"? That is the challenge, to figure out the why's, and then come up with the "how-to's" to motivate more people to start exercising and make it a part of their daily lifestyle.
The good news is that you don't have to train like an Olympic athlete in order to enjoy the health benefits associated with exercise. The CDC and the Surgeon General's physical activity recommendations are: "Moderate physical activity for an accumulation of 30 minutes, most days (preferably daily) of the week." (If your goal is to lose fat weight, you'll most likely need to do more than this.)
In other words, you don't have to exercise for 30 minutes straight; you can break it up into blocks. "Moderate" is the equivalent of a "brisk walk" or walking as if you had to go somewhere and were running a bit late.
Some examples of moderate physical activity include: gardening for 30-45 minutes, fast social dancing for 30 minutes, bicycling 4 miles in 15 minutes, washing windows, floors, or your car for 45-60 minutes, walking 2 miles in 30 minutes, or running 1.5 miles in 15 minutes. (Lower intensity activities require more than 30 minutes.)
Even though it doesn't take a whole lot of exercise to meet the CDC's and Surgeon General's recommendations, it's still a challenge to get people moving.
We've heard all the excuses why someone doesn't exercise: "Too old." "Too tired." "Not enough time." "Don't know how." "I have such-and-such a health problem that prevents me from exercising." "Too hot/cold." "I'm not a morning person." "I can't exercise in the evening time because it's too hot/too tired/busy with the family/home responsibilities." "Don't like to do it alone." "VCR/stationary bike/treadmill, etc. is broken." "It's boring." "I don't like the feeling of sweating." "Exercising will cause my heart rate to speed up and I'll use up my quota of heart beats faster." (Even if this were true (it's not), exercise causes your overall resting heart rate to decrease so your heart will beat less times over your lifetime.)
We all have "good reasons" why we don't exercise. And yet, there are every day people, with the same obstacles that you face, who do exercise on a regular basis. How do they do it?
Even though there is still much research to do in this area of motivating people to exercise and I don't have the definitive answers, here are some of my tips and strategies I use with our patients to encourage them to be a regular exerciser. Part of the challenge is finding out which combination of tips will work for each individual–none of these work for everyone all the time!
Here they are, in no particular order of importance:
1. Make it a priority. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, so it's not really a matter of not having enough time, but what we choose to fill up our time with. Most people, if they look hard enough, could find 30 minutes a day to exercise, IF they thought it important enough. After all, most people take the time to bathe and get dressed for work every day. The same goes for eating and brushing our teeth. We don't want to suffer the consequences of not doing these activities on a daily basis, so we make time for them. Focusing on your "return on investment" for exercise will help move it up in your priority list. List all the benefits from exercising and read them daily.
2. Once it's a high enough priority, schedule it in your day. Be specific. Write it down as you would any other important appointment. Exercising with someone else or joining a class you've paid for will help keep you on your schedule.
3. Be accountable. Having someone keep track of your exercise program, whether it be a personal trainer or someone like myself, can help nudge you over that day's obstacle to exercising. Keep a log, exercise journal or just checking it off on your calendar will help you see what you've done and give you a sense of satisfaction and completion. (On the other hand, too many blank spaces can encourage you to get going!) Let others know what you're doing so they can help keep you on track.
Exercise-misery loves company? Maybe, but feeding off the exciting synergy of walking or running with 300+ people every Sunday with the Loma Linda Lopers, or joining other types of exercise group can help you stay on track.
4. Do a variety of things, and try to choose activities you enjoy. If you hate jogging, don't invest in a treadmill. Doing different activities can also help prevent burnout and reduce your chance of injury. If you're doing a variety of fun things, you'll most likely stick to doing them. If you end up doing the same old thing that is boring you to death, your chances of doing it long-term are not good. We in the Health Ed. Dept. can help you brainstorm and come up with activities that will work best for you.
5. Use gadgets. We've had great success using something as simple as a pedometer (step counter) to motivate our patients to be more physically active. Wear it like a pager, and at the end of the day, see how many steps you've taken. A typical sedentary person will take 3,000 steps per day. If you want to be healthy, you need to be walking about 10,000 steps per day, and if you want to lose weight, you need to be closer to 20,000 steps per day. These pedometers will count not only your exercise session, but also your physical activity from daily acts of living, such as gardening, yard work, house cleaning, parking farther, taking the stairs, etc. It all counts!
There are more feature-loaded gadgets like the Vivonic Fitness Planner (www.vivonic.com) that will track calories that you eat and burn, act as a food diary, and synch with your computer to help you plan your fitness program. (I'm on the list to get some demo units so check to see if we've gotten them.)
There are various places on the Web that can help monitor your fitness program and diet. Some are free, while others charge a fee for a variety of services. Check out sites like www.efit.com or the American Dietetic Association's website, www.eatright.org for more information.
6. Set a goal for yourself by entering a race, contest, or Challenge. It can be as simple as a group of friends or co-workers doing a contest among yourselves, though be careful to focus on the right parameters such as inches or body fat percentage. If you focus on losing only weight, some will be tempted to take extreme measures to lose and end up losing water and muscle instead of fat.
Entering to do a race, such as a 10K or the LA Marathon (in March), will help you stay on track with your training. There are many different sporting events and charities that you can enter. We have listings of local races, or you can go to www.active.com and find a sporting event and race based on location and month.
For those who like to be involved in friendly competition for motivation, Beaver Medical Group will be hosting our 2nd Challenge starting September 24 thru November 19. It's called "Trek to Plymouth Rock". For two months, entrants will be converting their exercise minutes, steps, or calories burned into virtual miles. If you do the CDC's recommended amount of physical activity, you WILL finish this Challenge in the allotted two months. Those who reach Plymouth Rock (3,028 virtual miles away) by November 19 will receive a t-shirt, enjoy a delicious catered meal at the post-Challenge Awards Party, and be eligible for prizes. The top 4 people with the most mileage will receive special prizes (you can take special site-seeing side trips along the way in order to rack up more than the minimum 3,028 virtual miles.). For more information or to get a registration form, watch for flyers throughout the clinics, call 335-4131, check our website at www.beavermedicalgroup.com, or e-mail BMGTrek2Rock@aol.com.
7. If you're trying to get others in your family to be more physically active (especially your kids), realize that leading by example is more convincing than telling them to exercise. Get the whole family out there! It's never too early to start. Four days after our daughter, Summer (now three years old) was born, were back out hiking on the fire roads above Hulda Crooks Park in Loma Linda in the cool of the early morning. Ever since then, she's "exercised" with my wife who jogs while pushing her in a jogger, just about every day of her life! Now that she can talk, she's the one that'll remind mommy that "It's time to go jogging!"
This is just the tip of the iceberg! If you'd like a packet of additional information on how to get motivated to exercise (or to motivate someone), contact the Health Education Department by calling 335-4131 and asking for Dr. Medina's Exercise Motivation handout. You can also e-mail your request to emedina@epiclp.com. Just give us you name and date of birth and we'll mail it right out to you.
Hopefully, the tips above will help you get started, or keep you going, in an exercise program and increase your daily acts of physical activity. Experience all the benefits that exercise can add to your life.
After all, aren't you worth it?
If you need more in-depth and individual help starting an exercise program, feel free to call us to schedule an appointment with Dr. Medina. And always check with your primary care doctor before starting a new exercise program.
