Reasons not to take a Walk

I have heard a lot of reasons not to take a walk. They are reasonable reasons but not insurmountable reason. Once you apply a little out of the box thinking, they turn from reasons to excuses.

Reason 1. I might have to go to the bathroom and with no bathroom readily available, I would have an accident.

Valid -- Do you have a potty problem? It could be either bowel or bladder -- makes no difference.

First, does taking a walk make your bowel more active. It should and in fact could eliminate the need for those laxatives you have been taking. I can understand not wanting to be a mile from home when the need to move your bowels strikes.

You could go for a walk after your normal elimination.

You could go for a walk in a mall, making small circuits that keep you close to the bathroom until after your bowel has moved.

You could walk in your home. Can't get much closer than that. Just keep moving through the rooms for at least 10 minutes. You could set the kitchen timer. Don't stop to pick up anything. If you feel the need to go to the bathroom, you are right there and can pick up your walk again. Or at that point you could go outside and walk around the block.

Reason 2. This is also valid - I might stumble and fall. Or I might slide and fall on the ice.

I can easily understand reason 2. I have taken 2 pretty nasty falls in my neighborhood. The sidewalks are so uneven that tripping is a real problem. I now walk in the street. I can't do that with the grandchildren, so some sidewalk walks are necessary.

Wear good shoes that are closed front and back to reduce the incident of slides and stumbles. Tennis shoes are a good choice.

Much as you would like to just look at the scenery - keep an eye on the ground in front of your feet.

The safer option is to walk at the mall. But you can't drive to the mall -- ok back to walk around the house. Set the timer and just know that you will keep walking until it dings.

Go for 10 minute walks - I find that longer than that in a house-walk is just too boring. If you are lucky enough to have a treadmill, so much the better and the longer if you want. You will get just as much benefit from three 10 minute walks as from a 30 minute walk.

Treadmills are good if you have the available floor space. That might be as good Santa present.

You can throw in some aerobics in your house-walk if you have some steps. Put on some music and you can do a few dance steps and swirls if you have the floor space. You don't want to knock over a lamp. If you just can't miss that TV show, hey how much will you miss walking around the rooms near the TV.

A 19th century Jesuit priest called Anthony de Mello wrote a book called 'One Minute Wisdom' that upset the church. They didn't like that it mixed Eastern and Western philosophies.

Here is a short quote from that book

To the disciples who were always asking for words of wisdom the Master said, "Wisdom is not expressed in words. It reveals itself in action."

But when he saw them plunge headlong into activity, he laughed aloud and said, "That isn't action. That's motion."

courtesy http://www.kickstartdaily.com


Well your house-walk may not bring you wisdom, but it will bring you health with motion. And the action part - that is putting an exercise plan into practice. Wisdom would indicate the need for health.

until next time Smile
Sharon
AnswersForYourHealth

The Overnight Success or Failure?

We all know of the overnight success -- the one who worked his or her whole life to achieve that goal. And though we may acknowledge that work, we still tend to think of it as just one "break" that got that person the prize.

If you think about it, everyone is on that same path. At least in terms of aging and health.

You work your whole life on your health. No you say, I didn't work at anything and I am over weight and weak and have many aches and pains. By default you worked at bad health.

Your overnight success came one morning or evening when you looked in the mirror and saw the wrinkles and the fat. It came on the day you could no longer turn the lid on a jar. It came the day when you had to run after - child, pet, the postman - and you were panting and out of breath.

Each decade we see the little changes. Wounds that don't heal as quickly, skin that bruises more easily, joints that pop and are painful with weather changes.

Perhaps it is hair that is thinning and growing more grey or the bigger size clothes in the closet pushing the smaller sizes to the back until they are released to charity because we finally gave up on losing that 10 pounds and besides they are not in fashion any longer. (Side note here, my mother-in-law still has clothes from the 50's because they may come back into fashion. No they don't fit.)

The only time you can have a flower one day when they was no plant the day before, is if you go and buy it. Someone, some where had to take the time and effort to grow that plant and flower.

Your success came from the daily intake of sugar and excess food. Just a bite here and there adding up so very much. As you grow older the fat builds up as the muscle mass decreases. Joints begin to hurt and the exercise becomes even more infrequent and painful.

When my mother was in her late 60's she would still get out and play basketball with the kids. She worked in her garden every day. She ate mostly good food - vegetables she had grown herself. Why did she die a painful death from cancer? My guess would be the extreme mental stress she put herself under. Plus the pesticides she used in the garden, plus the grief of losing her only son.

Am I saying that diet and exercise are not worth the effort, of course not. Will a good diet and healthy exercise keep aging and death from your door, of course not. Death is the natural end for us all. Aging is as natural as the seasons. But isn't the goal to be a healthy and happy and active for as long as possible?

I am a woman and the wrinkles bother me. The old looking hands bother me. But it does not stop me from enjoying life and being active. My hands have seen 60 years of stress - dishwater, gardening, burns and cuts. Thank God and diet I do not suffer from the arthritis that plagued my mother and father.

I have found that as I get older, my resolve to exercise becomes more wish than action. Especially now, with my toes so painful that walking is a real chore, the weather so cold and the TV so mind numbing, I find that days and days go by with no real movement. I have gained 10 pounds in a month since this all started.

I have a greater appreciation for people that have severe arthritis and still manage to walk and clean house and work.

Is it ever too late to change the path of your own overnight success? As long as you have breath and a little bit of muscle you can change that path.

If walking is beyond you right now, then use hand weights (or a can of vegetables) while you are watching TV. Better yet, tune in to the TV programs that are freely available that guide you through sitting exercises.

Have you found it impossible to give up those soft drinks each day? Yes even the diet ones are bad for you, worse in some ways. Try EFT to release the mental need. Still smoking, again try EFT and put something else in your hands. Are your hands too painful to knit or woodwork, then change up the diet. Add supplements to your diet such as Tumeric.

You cannot turn back the hands of time. You will never be that foolish 20 again with the feeling that nothing could hurt you and you would never grow old. BUT, you can begin now today to change that helpless feeling that aging has taken over and you will weakly go to your grave.

If you cannot get out of your house and TV is your only diversion, then use that.

During the many commercials, get up, pick up those hand weights or cans and walk around your house or apartment. If you walk to the kitchen, go through the kitchen without picking up food.

Count your steps and write down the number. Add them up at the end of the day and try to walk a few more steps tomorrow. It may be slow progress but eventually you will be able to go outside and walk around the block a few times. You will have an over night success.

until next time - smile
Sharon
Answers For Your Health