Recognizing that physical activity is a common part of our daily work is an opportunity to “build physical activity habits into our daily lives,” he added.
Dr. Gardner says he drives the kids two miles to school each weekday, then parks the car and walks home, sometimes walking to meetings. Then in the afternoon I walk with the kids to the car and back to school. “I get into the habit of asking myself, for all the tasks I do every day, is there a way I can do them in a more physically active way,” he said.
Instead of buying a sandwich at the deli around the corner, you may decide to walk a mile to get a sandwich for lunch. If you live in the countryside and can’t ride your bike to buy groceries, try spending 20 minutes a day weeding or cleaning out your garage. Anything you’ve been putting off, like digging up old stumps or hauling yard trash, becomes a more attractive prospect when you think of it as training.
But you might not start with Costco.
“The most important thing is finding ways to make exercise as enjoyable as possible for people, whether it’s walking the dog or biking to Costco,” Dr. Fortier said. In treating a clinically depressed, inactive woman, Dr. Fortier first instructs patients from choosing a good day to go for a walk and setting a timer for 10 minutes. there is If your child feels good when the timer goes off, you may want to walk a little longer. If not, please stop.
As I listened to Dr. Fortier, I realized that starting a new exercise regimen with a daunting shopping run risked killing my enthusiasm before I even started. It is best to pay attention to the joy principle and start with simple tasks and work your way up.
So do your first exercise errand on a sunny afternoon. Take a walk to the nearest post office to drop off your package. After a few months, your to-do list will begin to fill with more daunting tasks. You might even love every second of it, buying a used bike trailer on Craigslist and laughing at the squalls that fall on it.
Andrew Leonard lives in Berkeley, California and writes newsletters about Sichuan cuisine, Chinese history and the way.
