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Dear Fellow Caregiver,
Greetings from snowy Colorado! Welcome back to Sip of Soup, my monthly eSip offering a taste of insight and lessons to help you keep caring for yourself while caring for others...a sip of chicken soup for your soul.
Positively Yours,
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Positivity Power
This is the 23rd consecutive year I've made a New Year's resolution to get more exercise! It's a hard discipline for me. That's why I appreciate research proving that 30 to 40 minutes of brisk walking, three or four times a week has the same cardiovascular benefit as jogging. I imagine all the runners with the bad knees resent this information now, but it sure works better for me.
Even on my busiest days, I can usually get in a thirty minute walk. A mere fifteen minutes of walking or exercise is beneficial too, because research proves the results are cumulative. Numerous studies show that the best way to boost metabolism is with moderate short exercises throughout the day. Taking the stairs, parking far away and walking to the store all count. In one study, one group spent 20-40 minutes vigorously exercising five days a week. The other spent 30 minutes of exercise in their everyday lifestyles. At the end of six months, both groups had similar and significant improvement in their cholesterol levels, blood pressures and body fat percentages.
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Lessons from LeAnn
For all generations before us, men and women alike got their exercise from their daily activities. But now we hire people to do that stuff for us-to wash our cars and shovel our snow and rake our leaves and mow our lawns and walk our dogs-so we have time to go to the health club and work out!
A great life balance tool is to incorporate exercise with the priorities of our lives. If your partner is a priority, you can enjoy sports and outdoor activities together, or go dancing! You can get a lot of exercise with your kids by biking, walking, hiking, swimming, or making snowmen in the back yard. If community service is important, you can clean a trail or lift boxes at the food distribution center or paint a house for Habitat for Humanity.
Exercise not only lowers your risk of heart attacks, diabetes, bone cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, backaches, high blood pressure, depression and stress, it can increase your family's health and happiness too.
So, will you join me in the same resolution...and a 30 minute walk?
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Sip du Jour
A Healthy Quote:
"Why do strong arms fatigue themselves with frivolous dumbbells? To dig a vineyard is a worthier exercise for men."
-Marcus Valerius Martialis 40 AD-103 AD
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To learn more about caring for your mind, body and spirit at home and at work, check out LeAnn's new initiative SelfCare for HealthCare™: Your Guide to Physical, Mental & Spiritual Health.
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About LeAnn Thieman
Best-Selling Author, Hall of Fame Speaker, and Nurse.
Co-Author: Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul, and 10 other Chicken Soup for the Soul titles. Her book Balancing Life in Your "War Zones" shares lessons from her Vietnam Orphan Airlift adventure. Her latest book and initiative is SelfCare for HealthCare™
: Your Guide to Physical, Mental & Spiritual Health.
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For tips and tools for balancing your life physically, mentally, and spiritually, see past issues of the "Sip of Soup" by clicking here:
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