Boost Your Health and Career by Moving More! 🏃🏽♀️
In today's hustle culture, prioritizing our career goals often means sacrificing our well-being. The Cleveland Clinic's article on “How Exercise Protects Your Brain’s Health” sheds light on the transformative power of physical activity in boosting mental acuity and overall health.
Here’s a breakdown of the article:
Enhanced Brain Function: Exercise promotes neuroplasticity, improving our brain's ability to learn and remember. By moving more, we can boost our hippocampus, leading to sharper memory and cognition.
Practical Exercise Goals: Aim for achievable exercise targets amidst a hectic schedule. Whether it's 15 minutes of vigorous activity 3x a week or 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5x a week, find what works for you and experience the brain-boosting effects.
Never Too Late to Start: It's essential to recognize that it's never too late to prioritize your health. Every step towards a healthier lifestyle contributes to a more vibrant life, regardless of when you start.
Here’s how to add more movement into your life:
Know how to move. Blend strength training, endurance building cardio, and flexibility exercises into your weekly schedule. Experiment with a variety of activities for each category to find the exercises that you most enjoy. Then make them a priority on your calendar. Seek out resources and or classes at your local YWCA, your doctor’s office, or your EAP benefit. Trained fitness and medical professionals can help you build new skills, build new muscles and expand your awareness of all the different ways you can move.
Start small, and be flexible when establishing new habits. Don’t take on too much too soon. For example, you could start with just 1 day per week, for as little as 5 to 10 minutes of stretching for improved flexibility. Aim for a 10% increase per week. As you go, you can add more minutes to your routine and work up to a 30-minute yoga class. Remember that some days things simply won’t go as planned and that is OK. Prepare yourself for challenges and adapt your plan as needed. Remember, some movement is better than no movement. Be kind to yourself as you build new habits.
Plan to move more. Leverage the same strategies that make you successful at work to manage your “moving plan”. Add appointments on your calendar to move and protect that time. Pack workout clothes or set them out the night before to make it easier to get out of the door for an early morning workout. Track your progress on spreadsheet and try not to break the chain. Recruit family and friends to join your team and help to hold you accountable. Lastly, celebrate daily, weekly and monthly progress!
Incorporating exercise into our busy lives isn't just about improving our physical health—it's about enhancing our cognitive function, reducing stress, and ultimately thriving in our professional endeavors. So let's lace up our sneakers, move more, and unlock our full potential—both in our careers and in our well-being! 🧠💼