Do you see a wall or a staircase here? What you see is your creation.
Moving and feeling better is a science and an artform. High level research indicates that when you are more active, you are more able to care for yourself with day to day tasks, but sustaining the activity is truely an art.
What can I do to be more active?
The science:
Make just one great goal to focus on for the present time.
The art:
What drives you? When do you feel most alive? How can we adapt activity to take you there?
How hard should I work?
The science:
It’s okay to start at an intensity where you can sing throughout your activity, especially if you are just getting started. If your goal is to reap greater health rewards for the time you invest in motion, over time you can build up the amount and difficulty of exercise to the level where you can talk but not sing.
The art:
If you are one of the many people who wants to move today because it makes you feel better, then go ahead and choose an activity that builds on the feeling you seek today. What should we do to help? Revv up? Wind down? The choice is yours. If it feels good you will do it.
Every set of footprints we set out to make on this planet is unique. Let’s use art and science to honour that.
References:
Conn, V. S., Valentine, J. C., & Cooper, H. M. (2002). Interventions to increase physical activity among aging adults: a meta-analysis. Annals of behavioral medicine, 24(3), 190-200.
Roberts, C. E., Phillips, L. H., Cooper, C. L., Gray, S., & Allan, J. L. (2017). Effect of different types of physical activity on activities of daily living in older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 25(4), 653-670.
