Explaining Medicine
  • News
  • Health & Lifestyle
    • Diet & Weight Management
    • Exercise & Fitness
    • Nutrition, Food & Recipes
    • Prevention & Wellness
  • Conditions
    • Custom1
      • Conditions A-Z
      • Procedures A-Z
      • Allergies
      • Alzheimer’s
      • Arthritis
      • Asthma
      • Blood Pressure
      • Cholesterol
      • Cancer
    • Custom2
      • Chronic Pain
      • Cold Flu
      • Depression
      • Diabetes
      • Digestion
      • Eyesight
      • Health Living
      • Healthy Kids
      • Hearing Ear
    • Custom3
      • Heart
      • HIV/AIDS
      • Infectious Disease
      • Lung Conditions
      • Menopause
      • Men’s Health
      • Mental Health
      • Migraine
      • Neurology
    • Custom4
      • Oral Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Senior Health
      • Sexual Health
      • Skin Problems
      • Sleep
      • Thyroid
      • Travel Health
      • Women’s Health
  • Medications
    • Medications
    • Supplements and Vitamins
  • Medical Dictionary
  • Health Alerts
The FDA proposes new targets to limit lead...
6.8 million expected to lose Medicaid when paperwork...
The FDA considers a major shift in the...
Vitamin B12: What It Can Do, and What...
At buzzy health care business conference, investors fear...
Is it time for a reality check on...
Coming to Terms With My Diagnosis
Therapy by chatbot? The promise and challenges in...
Pictures: Embracing My Body After Being Diagnosed with...
I Am More Than My Medication
Top Posts

Explaining Medicine

  • News
  • Health & Lifestyle
    • Diet & Weight Management
    • Exercise & Fitness
    • Nutrition, Food & Recipes
    • Prevention & Wellness
  • Conditions
    • Custom1
      • Conditions A-Z
      • Procedures A-Z
      • Allergies
      • Alzheimer’s
      • Arthritis
      • Asthma
      • Blood Pressure
      • Cholesterol
      • Cancer
    • Custom2
      • Chronic Pain
      • Cold Flu
      • Depression
      • Diabetes
      • Digestion
      • Eyesight
      • Health Living
      • Healthy Kids
      • Hearing Ear
    • Custom3
      • Heart
      • HIV/AIDS
      • Infectious Disease
      • Lung Conditions
      • Menopause
      • Men’s Health
      • Mental Health
      • Migraine
      • Neurology
    • Custom4
      • Oral Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Senior Health
      • Sexual Health
      • Skin Problems
      • Sleep
      • Thyroid
      • Travel Health
      • Women’s Health
  • Medications
    • Medications
    • Supplements and Vitamins
  • Medical Dictionary
  • Health Alerts
  • News

    From Couch Potato To Fitness Buff: How I Learned To Love Exercise

    by Maria Godoy January 14, 2019

    Enlarge this image

    “Feeling better isn’t just this selfish, hedonic thing — it actually is fuel. I consider energy from taking care of yourself as essential fuel for the things that matter most in our lives,” says Michelle Segar, a psychologist at the University of Michigan who studies how we sustain healthy behaviors like exercise. Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Premium hide caption

    toggle caption

    Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Premium

    “Feeling better isn’t just this selfish, hedonic thing — it actually is fuel. I consider energy from taking care of yourself as essential fuel for the things that matter most in our lives,” says Michelle Segar, a psychologist at the University of Michigan who studies how we sustain healthy behaviors like exercise.

    Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Premium

    If you like this article, you should check out Life Kit, NPR’s new family of podcasts for navigating your life — everything from finances to diet and exercise to raising kids. Sign up for the newsletter to learn more and follow @NPRLifeKit on Twitter. Email us at lifekit@npr.org. Follow NPR’s Maria Godoy @mgodoyh.

    I have become the type of person that used to mystify me. I … am a fitness fanatic.

    That was certainly not the case a year and a half ago. Back then, like a lot of Americans, I was mostly sedentary (unless you count walking to meetings). Which is ironic, because, as a senior editor for NPR’s science, food and health team, it is literally my job to know better. But, with two small kids, a full-time job and recurring insomnia, I didn’t have the time or energy to work out. And I’m not going tell you how much I used to weigh, but it wasn’t healthy.

    Get Fit — Faster: This 22-Minute Workout Has You Covered

    Shots – Health News

    Get Fit — Faster: This 22-Minute Workout Has You Covered

    So what changed? For starters, I reframed what I thought of as exercise.

    “The research does now show that basically all movement counts, and anything is better than nothing,” says Michelle Segar, a psychologist and director of the University of Michigan Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center. She studies how we sustain healthy behaviors, and she says one big stumbling block for people is that they fail to take advantage of the exercise opportunities they can build into their daily lives, like taking the stairs or walking to work.

    Get Started Exercising

    Exercise: Learn To Love (Or At Least Like) It

    Get Started Exercising

    This 22-Minute Workout Has Everything You Need

    Exercise: Learn To Love (Or At Least Like) It

    This 22-Minute Workout Has Everything You Need

    “I’ve been astounded that even up until today, very educated people don’t know — don’t believe — that walking actually ‘counts’ as valid exercise,” she says.

    That was a big hang-up for me. I used to think if I wasn’t sweaty or huffing away on the treadmill for at least a half-hour straight, why bother?

    But so much more counts as moderate exercise, science now tells us. There’s actually a pretty geeky but cool scientific resource called the Compendium of Physical Activities. It’s used by researchers to compare apples and oranges when it comes to exercise. And it uses a value called a MET, or metabolic equivalent.

    “Just sitting, doing nothing, is a MET value of 1 — you’re working at your resting metabolic rate,” explains Loretta DiPietro, an exercise research scientist at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. “An activity that, say, is 2 METs makes you work at twice your resting metabolic rate. So getting up and walking across the room is about 2 METS.”

    DiPietro says the Compendium lists the MET values for all kinds of activities — everything from mopping (that’s about 3.5 METS) to line dancing. (That can be almost 8 METS!)

    But to count as moderately intense exercise, the magic number you want to hit is between 3 and 6 METS. (Alas, even the most vigorous sexual activity falls just short of that, according to the Compendium — though DiPietro suggests with a laugh that more research may be needed.)

    How To Make Exercise A Habit That Sticks

    Exercise: Learn To Love (Or At Least Like) It

    How To Make Exercise A Habit That Sticks

    Turns out, lots of regular activities meet the magic mark. Climb the stairs slowly and that’s 4 METs. Climb them quickly and it’s nearly 9 METS, which means you’re burning nearly nine times as many calories as you would just sitting. Even vacuuming counts, if you do it with gusto.

    And researchers now know that the health benefits of these little movements add up. Just taking short breaks to get out of your chair and walk throughout the day can help regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, helping to ward off diseases like Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. And while it won’t make you an athlete, moving throughout the day, even in short but repeated spurts, has been linked to a lower risk of dying prematurely. When you think of it as something that can be broken down throughout the day, the idea of getting at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week — as federal guidelines recommend — becomes less daunting.

    “Think about it like putting pennies in a piggy bank,” says DiPietro. “You think, ‘Oh, I’m putting in three pennies here,’ and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, this doesn’t add up to much.’ But at the end of the month, it does indeed.”

    Exercise Wins: Fit Seniors Can Have Hearts That Look 30 Years Younger

    Shots – Health News

    Exercise Wins: Fit Seniors Can Have Hearts That Look 30 Years Younger

    Knowing this really changed the way I think about exercise. Instead of seeing exercise as all or nothing, I started to think about it like climbing a ladder. It’s OK to start at the bottom rung and work your way up. So I started with small bursts of movement throughout my day. Instead of sending an email to a co-worker, I’d walk over and talk to them. I’d skip the elevator and take the stairs. I’d do squats at my desk and take short walks around the office whenever I could fit it in. I’d do one-on-one meetings with co-workers while walking and talking.

    The more I did, the stronger I felt — and the more I wanted to do. I started using the elliptical that was gathering dust in my basement. I made a rule: I’m only allowed to watch Netflix while working out or moving in some other way (like washing dishes or folding laundry).

    Then a curious thing happened: The more I exercised, the more my body craved it. These days, I even take spin class and do high-intensity interval training.

    And while I did lose weight during this process (which was pretty nice — I am now at a healthy weight), that’s not what’s kept me going.

    For me, exercise has become a bodily need. I just don’t feel right without it. And while I used to think I didn’t have time to work out, nowadays I don’t see how I could get through my busy days without the energy I get from exercise. (And my insomnia is pretty much gone.)

    As psychologist Michelle Segar notes, there are tons of documented mental benefits to exercise.

    A New Prescription For Depression: Join A Team And Get Sweaty

    Shots – Health News

    A New Prescription For Depression: Join A Team And Get Sweaty

    “We know that it helps people generate energy. We know that it boosts mood,” she says. “We know that it improves executive functioning and all the tasks associated with that — focus, creativity. There are so many positives that happen when you move.”

    In fact, even though lots of people start exercising this time of year to lose weight, Segar says for many people, weight loss isn’t actually a good motivator over the long haul, because it can take way too long to see any results, and our brains are not wired to strive for long-term payoff. Weight is much more a factor of what we eat — and eating a 600-calorie muffin takes no time at all. Working it off, on the other hand, takes a good long time.

    Given that reality, Segar says focusing on the immediate rewards from exercise can be more effective at keeping you motivated.

    “When you have more energy and you’re a happier person, you bring that much more enthusiasm and energy and performance to your role in your work, your patience as a parent, [and] as a partner to someone,” she says.

    “Feeling better isn’t just this selfish, hedonic thing — it actually is fuel. I consider energy from taking care of yourself as essential fuel for the things that matter most in our lives.”

    If you’ve been sedentary, adding more movement into your day is a good place to start an exercise habit. Just grab that bottom rung. Remember, you have to start somewhere.

    Read the article here

    Share this Post

    Share Explaining Medicine Share Explaining Medicine

    From Couch Potato To Fitness Buff: How I Learned To Love Exercise was last modified: January 26th, 2019 by Maria Godoy

    Related

    exercisehabitslife kit podcastlose weightsmall changesweightworkout
    0 comment
    0
    Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
    Maria Godoy

    previous post
    आई वी एफ का फैसला लेना क्यों इतना मुश्किल हो सकता है
    next post
    Mom-to-Be’s Flu Can Harm Her Unborn Baby

    Related Articles

    Organ Transplants Linked to Higher Skin Cancer Risk

    September 29, 2016

    Major Medical Associations Feud Over Diabetes Guidelines

    March 5, 2018

    Prison For Forced Addiction Treatment? A Parent’s ‘Last Resort’ Has Consequences

    April 20, 2019

    Pediatrician Sentenced for Abusing 31 Children

    March 21, 2019

    Surgeon General: Take Steps to Stop Teen E-Cig Use

    December 18, 2018

    FDA: Don’t Suddenly Stop Taking Your Rx Opioid

    April 10, 2019

    5 tips to better communicate with your patients

    January 9, 2018

    The chase is on: Regulators are slowly cracking down on vapes aimed at teens

    November 29, 2022

    Audit: FDA Recall Process Puts Lives at Risk

    June 9, 2016

    Social infertility

    September 3, 2018

    Recent Posts

    • The FDA proposes new targets to limit lead in baby food

      January 25, 2023
    • 6.8 million expected to lose Medicaid when paperwork hurdles return

      January 24, 2023
    • The FDA considers a major shift in the nation’s COVID vaccine strategy

      January 23, 2023
    • At buzzy health care business conference, investors fear the bubble will burst

      January 20, 2023
    • Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?

      January 19, 2023

    Keep in touch

    Facebook Twitter Google + RSS

    Recent Posts

    • The FDA proposes new targets to limit lead in baby food

      January 25, 2023
    • 6.8 million expected to lose Medicaid when paperwork hurdles return

      January 24, 2023
    • The FDA considers a major shift in the nation’s COVID vaccine strategy

      January 23, 2023
    • At buzzy health care business conference, investors fear the bubble will burst

      January 20, 2023
    • Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?

      January 19, 2023
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy

    @2023 - Explaining Medicine. All Right Reserved.


    Back To Top
    Explaining Medicine
    Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: soledad child.