Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

A healthy mind and healthy body are profoundly linked.  It’s a well-known fact that daily physical activity is the single most important tonic for staving off the negative impacts of a busy, modern life, stretched to the max with activity.  Just 20 minutes most days of physical activity can make a huge difference in your state of well-being.

While I do believe this, I’ve unfortunately been neglecting my physical health over the last few months.  Time has just seemed to get away from me, my days filled with launching into a new job, running after two kids at primary school and helping my husband maintain our home.  Oh, let’s be honest – these are just excuses!  Now it’s time for me to put some focus into my physical health and reap the benefits.

 

Just do it! Exercise - Exercise is known to help you live a longer and healthier life. The body needs to stay in action and movement. Move it, or lose it!

And what perfect time to start, with Spring upon us here in Perth.  Getting outside and soaking up the warmth of the sun and enjoying the lengthening daylight hours with brisk ½ hour walks is exactly what I need.  I’ve never been much of a long distance runner, but maybe it’s time to begin?  In his article 7 Habits for A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body, Christopher Bergland says that humans are built to run.  “… the human body evolved to run great distances hunting prey and gathering food.  The ability to spring through the air using our gluteus maximum muscles is what sets us apart from primate cousins.” 

He goes on to share his 7 habits for a healthy mind in a healthy body, which are:

1.       Daily Physicality: Exercise for at least 20 minutes most days of the week.

2.       Intellectual Curiosity: Spend some time in focused thought, exploring new ideas every day.

3. Foster Creativity: Challenge your mind to connect unrelated ideas in new and useful ways.  
4. Human Unity: Create and maintain close-knit human bonds and a social support network.  
5. Spiritual Connectedness: Identify a Source of inspiration that is bigger than you.
6. Energy Balance: Balance Calories in/Calories out, and reduce your carbon footprint.
7. Voluntary Simplicity: Embrace the liberty that comes with wanting and needing less.

I’ve discovered the perfect motivation for my new-found focus on my physical health – it’s a programme called Steptember, and it promotes walking or running 10,000 steps a day to raise money for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.  The event challenges people to take 10,000 steps a day for 28 days straight in the month of September.  I’ve signed up a team of four including my husband and our friendly neighbours and now have my pedometer ready to go!  If you want to set up a team and join the competition go to www.steptember.com.au to register.

As a warm up for the event, today I went on a 7km walk with the family and my visiting brother and I feel fantastic for it!  I’m excited to imagine how great I’ll feel by the end of September! 

If you have a regular physical activity regime that you’d like to share, please send me a post or email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .  I’d love to hear about it!