In this article, I will be talking about 1 Pillar of Health - Activity, and what you can do to have this foundation. These foundations is an awesome start to work towards your health goals, but if you have other underlying conditions, this is the first step. To accelerate your health journey and make sure you are going in the right direction, book an appointment with someone you trust and can work with.

Activity

Movement is important for the body, for mood, and energy, among other things. It has been seen to be more effective than some antidepressants when it comes to depression, and it is an excellent way of managing stress by giving you an stress outlet.

When you are first starting out, it is important to start of small, especially if you haven’t been active for a very long time. This can be something like walking for 20 minutes/day. Commit to doing this for at least 20 days, and watch how your mood and energy change as you begin to make this a regular part of your life. Afterwards, you can gradually increase the difficulty of the activity by either increasing the time to 30 minutes/day or by changing it up to jogging based on how you feel you are doing. Continue to gradually increasing the difficulty as you see fit (you can increase the time again, or change it up to running). Afterwards, you will be doing compound exercises, this is where you are training more than one muscle group at a time. You can do this by doing squats, lunges, push ups, etc.

A good workout should make you feel good - like you just worked out, and have achieved something - not completely ruined or exhausted. If you do not enjoy going to the gym, find an activity that you enjoy. This can be anything you want it to be, whether its yoga, soccer, swimming, martial arts, dancing, etc,. and make a commitment to do that regularly. You'll notice how much more energy, and how much lighter you feel after making this a habit.

Happy moving!

~Dr. Charmagne