Start Building That Foundation Of Movement In Your Life Today

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27

Just like in a spiritual life a solid foundation of health goes a long way in helping one withstand the storms of life. Last week we talked about one of those foundational pillars, sleep. This week let’s talk about another one, movement.

We see study after study, news article after news article promoting the benefits of exercise and movement for our health. For most of human history, our day to day lives required lots of movement, from walking to toiling the fields to hunting and gathering our food. Modern day life has removed a lot of these activities from our need to survive and as a result while we live in much greater comfort we do not move as often, and while we may enjoy the easy life our bodies need for movement has not gone away.

The good news is that you do not have to break yourself in the gym day after day to reap the benefits of exercise, all you need to do is walk at an increased pace. Two studies come to mind. One recently published in the British Medical Journal followed over 50k people and the conclusions suggest that increasing walking pace could reduce risk for all-cause and CVD mortality. The other study conducted by Professor Rob Copeland from Sheffield Hallam University looked at those who walked at an intense brisk pace for 10 mins 3xs per day versus those who walked at least 10k steps all at once. He found that The Active 10 group actually did 30 per cent more moderate to vigorous physical activity than the 10,000-step group, even though they moved for less time.

Start building that foundation of movement in your life today. I suggest starting with 3 ten minute walks per day and increase your time from there, even better if you get out in nature. If you cannot do 3 start with one, the key is to begin and take it one step at a time!