Pillar of Health: Physical Activity

As mentioned last month, I chose to become a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Coach after seeing how lifestyle choices can change the direction of your health for the better. To begin this blog series on the Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine, I am focusing on Physical Activity and how it has impacted my life.

It doesn’t need to be costly or time consuming.

Simple changes, accountability and choices can improve your life drastically.

I have a very curious mind and a bit of drive to try new things as a way to prove I can do the hard, if only for myself. My neurodivergent mind has a tendency to take over and attempt to run it’s own show. This can be very exhausting and not always align with life’s plans.

My treatment for my busy mind: activity.

Having gone back to school at a later age, I was finding studying and focusing to be quite challenging. After many discussions and attempted treatments with providers, I began getting outside and getting active. At the time it was running, which then morphed into distance trail running. I found the constant need to pay attention to where my feet needed to land a great way to be present and silence my inner chatter. Not only did this quiet my mind, but it led to better nutrition choices, better sleep, less stress, social connections, optimal biometrics, and overall wellbeing.

Physical activity is movement. And as I tell my clients, movement is movement, no matter how you chose to do it. The guidelines for optimal physical activity levels are to move 150 to 300 minutes each week.

The key, find a movement that you enjoy! For this season of my life, I love to hike, walk, lift weights and do yoga.

What form of movement do you enjoy?

Physical Activity: Encourages consistent movement