Get Moving!

I just got back from a Western Caribbean cruise that, thankfully, avoided running into Hurricane Ian. At first you wouldn’t think you’d get a lot of exercise on a cruise ship; still, you will walk a lot and take on many flights of stairs to avoid waiting for elevators. And, you will walk on excursions in port towns you visit. There are the pools and the fitness center on board. Even though I walked an average of 10,000 steps a day on the cruise, worked out several days, and took the stairs on the ship, I still put on 4 lbs. of vacation weight. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you know it’s easy to pack on the weight. In ‘real life,’ I don’t eat sweets and I no longer drink alcohol, but, on the cruise, I ate dessert, sometimes two desserts, every day. I don’t care about my weight because I enjoy my life.

This week’s blog essay has nothing to do with weight or body shaming or “shoulds”/reprimands. It’s about moving to our level of capacity for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, for self-care, for mental clarity, for emotional well-being. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘exercise’ as, “…physical or mental activity that you do to stay healthy or become stronger” (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/exercise_1). We may not like to work out/exercise, and yet, we all see the appeal of being healthy and becoming stronger.

I conducted research on why people engage in or avoid working out/exercise. Obviously some people are limited by physical challenges and cannot take part in much movement. Most, however, can move according to their current abilities. Even my 91-year old mother and my 93-year old father could move more to strengthen their balance and mobility. They could do chair yoga and light chair aerobics; they could do light water aerobics and they could do simple balance exercises; sadly though, they won’t. Their avoiding moving has encouraged lots of health problems. So, why do some people work out/exercise and why don’t others? Here are responses to my asking this question.

“Chronic pain started me on my yoga practice, and to an extent, it propels it…but, the shift I feel in my soul when I connect with inner stillness and the breath is what brings me back consistently…gentling and soothing my inner landscape…it gives me a place to go where everything connects and makes sense” (woman in her 50s).

“I do not exercise at this point. I do stretching exercises to relieve pain. Most ‘exercise programs’ require extensive use of the feet, such as cycling, jogging, or funning. Even at the gym, rowing, stair masters, and exercise classes are designed around alternating applying significant pressure to your lower extremities. My left foot is considered a Charcot foot. WebMD has a good article written by Steven Brown [about this]” (woman in her 60s).

“Work out to relieve stress; running helps with anxiety” (man in his late 20s)

“Hormone balance” (woman in her late 20s)

“I exercise when I am with friends…I know I need to exercise more routinely but I have so many things I like to do other than exercise. I don’t even think about exercising during my day…and then, when I would be able to do it, I feel like [I want] to rest…cannot win” (woman in her early 70s).

“Because of chronic pain” (woman in her early 60s)

“I used to work out because I enjoyed it, and it was part of staying in shape to play basketball. Now, I exercise to stay healthy (woman in her 50s).

“I work out because it makes me feel good” (woman in her 40s).

“I go to the gym almost every day before I go to work. I lift weights . Then,I walk outside if it’s nice or on the treadmill if it isn’t. I take the stairs instead of the elevators or escalators. I play flag football with friends, and I take vacations that feature challenging hikes. I exercise for my overall health and well being. I like to look fit too. And, I exercise so that I can enjoy a beer and not feel guilty when I eat pizza” (man in his early 30s)

“Working out vs. completing labor-intensive chores: I’m goal oriented and doing labor/work has much better incentives for me” (woman in her 70s).

And, this one made me smile: “To not keep affecting the tides. My wife and kids are only with me [be]cause they got caught in my gravitational pull” (man in his 40s)

Why do I get moving? I learned a hard lesson in life. I used to be very active, flexible, and had a high metabolism; I took my health, stamina for granted. In my later 30s, I stopped getting regular exercise and purposeful movement. After 20+ years of not moving as much as in my younger years, I lost muscle, tone, flexibility. And, my mental acuity was slower. In my late 50s and early 60s, I worked a job that was profoundly stressful. I started having a few health issues. At the beginning of this year, I decided to leave that stressful job. As soon as I made the decision, even though my actual leaving date was months later, I started feeling better, lost almost 30 lbs. of cortisol-caused weight. Again, it’s not about the weight loss; it’s about dealing with stress. Before I left that job, I worked out and saw no results and felt defeated. I started out making only 1 degree turns toward moving more and experiencing less stress. Now, I work out almost every day walking/hiking, doing balance exercises, and weight training. I feel stronger because I am stronger.

Most people can move, even if they have physical challenges and even if they are quite elderly. As you know, Newton’s first law of motion states that “an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This, of course, applies to actual physical things and phenomenons like throwing a ball, riding a bike, gravity, etc. but it also very much so applies to our mind state and how we move through life” (https://witanddelight.com/2018/08/objects-motion-stay-motion/). Use it or lose it. Get moving to your ability for your physical, emotional, and mental health.