"10 things you can do to lose weight now"
"5 quick ways to get in shape for summer"
"Eat these 5 foods and you will shed belly fat fast"
The reason these headlines grab our attention so easily is that they seem to offer succinct, easy, and quick ways to deliver results without a lot of thought or work on our part. BUT, do these hacks work?
Unfortunately, the answer is usually no. Sure, if you are not already doing any exercise or movement of any type, starting a fitness regime or eating certain foods will deliver some results for a short period of time. This is the lure of the hack mentality; it's a quick fix. The fix however, is usually sub-par and fleeting.
I know we have harped on this again and again, but the "long game" is really the way to achieve lasting results in health and fitness. Sure, if you need to drop a few pounds for a class reunion or a wedding you can use a hack or do a cleanse, but in the long run it's not a sustainable way to live.
Myles and I were discussing the things he most often tells his clients. His response was that telling people to "move more" is the number one "hack" he mentions. Moving daily, of course, is not a hack; it's a long-term solution to help counteract the effects of aging and a host of other health related issues.
Myles fears that when he tells his clients to "move more", they interpret that as working out more, which is not the case. He wants you all to just walk, or stand, or fidget, or play more. This doesn't have to be structured exercise time, this is as simple as a leisurely walk around the neighborhood, or standing up and moving away from your desk more often.
Our society has become SOOOO sedentary. We sit for hours on end; our bodies are not meant to do that. They need to move to keep your furnace burning and to help lubricate your joints.
I was reading an article in Reader's Digest this past week about brain games and ways to keep your mind sharp as you age. They suggested all sorts of puzzles and games to help slow cognitive decline but what I found MOST interesting was toward the end of the article they touched on movement for brain health. A prominent doctor in brain science said if he was given the chance to play a brain game or go for a walk for 20 minutes, he would choose to go for the walk! This floored me because the entire article was touting the benefits of these brain games and here one of the contributing scientific minds is saying, the benefits from a walk outweigh the benefits from playing the games! In fact Dr. Small's exact quote was, "If you do one thing to help your brain, I'd say it's exercise."
Myles and I don't even pretend to know it all, (well, Myles "might" think he knows it all, but I digress....) but we do know a lot about the benefits of regular exercise and its ability to increase your health and fitness markers in so many areas.
Comments