Jul 17, 2019
A study with findings that exercise is more important to your
mental health than money made a splash recently. It did note that
there was a diminishing return. Between 30-60 minutes a day was
ideal. Those that worked out beyond 3 hours a day suffered more
than those that weren’t that active. Take comfort that you do not
need to be a professional athlete to be happy.
Build up your endurance with moderate to vigorous aerobic
activity or cardio. Use the talk test. Moderate-intensity
means you’re breathing hard but can still have a conversation. If
you can only say a few words before you have to take a breath,
that’s vigorous-intensity.
Include muscle-strengthening activity. These are movements
that work your muscles as they move against resistance like weights
or push-ups. Even heavy gardening with lots of digging and
shoveling counts.
Increase your flexibility with stretching or yoga to protect
yourself from injury and improve your posture.
Balance is also a key component of fitness and this can be as
simple as standing on one leg.
We live in a society that says more is always better. Let’s
remember goldilocks and shift to "just right" is best!