Although this study was of chronically ill adults, the concepts should work for healthy adults as well. The study suggests that cognitive approaches to suggesting exercise does not work. Like the proverbial broken record, people have heard it enough. They already know that exercise in important to their health and recovery.
The solution may be behavior changing strategies. Then the question becomes what types of activities will stimulate exercise, or the mind-set to exercise regularly? One of the most obvious is to set goals. Set a reasonable goal for low impact exercise like walking 20 minutes per day. Increase the goals as they are achieved. To begin with, it is more important that we do something every day for exercise, the goal is to set the habit of exercising. Then increase the goals to sustainable activity with longer time periods. To begin with even 12 minutes of walking will achieve results, but certainly more is better in this regard.
Put your walking shoes by the door, write down your goals, get feedback from friends and family, invite people to join you, self-monitor your activity in a calendar, record you accomplishments.
I started TaeKwonDo when my children wanted to quit and I wouldn't let them. I saw many benefits of social, mental, spiritual, and physical nature that I wanted them to continue. By making it a family venture, it became more acceptable to them. Two days a week of this more strenuous exercise must be tempered with a lower impact form of exercise the rest of the week.
Recently Judy and I have formed a walking group that meets daily at one of two prearranged places for an hour of walking together. It is more fun to walk with friends and we motivate each other. It is more difficult to do these things alone. Among our walking group are cancer survivors, stroke victims and diabetics. They benefit from the group activity to stimulate their interest in exercise.
Try these ideas to help you exercise and help others as well.
Be Healthy, Stay Active!
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