How Moving Naturally Adds Happiness And Years To Your Life

This is lesson #1 of a challenge Optimized Life provides to their community called “8-weeks of Optimal Living”. This week focuses on helping you look for ways to move naturally and stay active throughout your day. You will also get a free bonus from one of our experts in this field.

When the Blue Zones were being studied, researchers noticed that these communities “move naturally”. People who do this on a regular basis feel better and live longer. So, let’s join them!

What does it look like to “move naturally”?

The answer is simple! It means to be active without even thinking about it.

Try to look for ways to incorporate various activity into your day instead of using tools and technology to make things easier. This can be challenging for most because of careers and hectic schedules.

We spend the majority of our day commuting and sitting at a desk working. We definitely are not getting enough physical exercise needed for optimal health.

So, how can you increase your physical activity?

Adding more activities (big or small) into your current lifestyle and intentionally finding ways to keep yourself moving is key to increasing physical activities, happiness, and longevity. Everything adds up and doing something is always better than doing nothing at all. So, how do we do this?

Create Activities In Your Day

Think about where you can go out of your way to add in extra steps or ways to keep moving. This might require you to get out of your comfort zone a little. Also, think about things you can do with your family or friends.

1. Walking to the store instead of driving.
2. Preparing your food with hand-held kitchen gadgets rather than using electric gadgets.
3. Walking around the house or outside when you have to talk on the phone instead of sitting.
4. Dance a little more!
5. Cleaning your house.

Do more activities you enjoy

Take a second and think about the physical activities you love doing…

What about new things you want to try…

If your list isn’t filled with hardcore workout activities, that is okay! You don’t have to be in the gym lifting weights.

Here are a few examples just in case you are having a hard time thinking about some:

• Taking a walk around your local park
• Walking your dog
• Hiking
• Jogging
• Dancing
• Bowling
• Playing basketball
• Riding your bike
• Golf
• Tennis
• Swimming

All of these things are great ways to move naturally and increase your physical activity. Adding a friend or even a group can make it fun!

Excercise

I know we are all at different stages in our lives and we can’t all hit the gym every day. We need to find what works for our lifestyle, schedule, and physical limitations.

Low Impact: Gardening or walking are great ways to relieve stress, improve flexibility and it also provides cardiovascular benefits. Use this time to add some music, your favorite podcast or audiobook.

Moderate/Cardio: Adding in some cardio exercise a few days a week will keep your heart healthy and strengthen your muscles. You can add cardio by doing any form of exercise that increases your heart rate. For example, treadmill, jogging or aerobics. Aim for 2.5 hours a week of moderate exercise.

Easy on the joints: Yoga is great for adding flexibility and strength. It is also so calming and is a great way to relieve stress.

Again, these are just a few examples. The best part is, you can do all of these with your family! I’m sure you can come up with some great ones on your own! We would love for you to share what you do on our Facebook page.

From the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep, look for ways to “move naturally”. This is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Eventually, this will become a habit and you will start to do things without even thinking about it.

I want you to also Focus on your “why”. This looks different for everyone. If you know why you are doing something, you will be more intentional and focused on your goal. Do you want to lose weight? Did you get a diagnosis from your doctor recently that was concerning? Are you a parent and are trying to be as healthy as you can so you can enjoy your children as long as you can? Whatever your “why” is, write it down somewhere you will see it every day. Let that be what drives you to make small changes.

Oh yeah! Remember that freebie I mentioned? This is only for people who have signed up for the 8-week challenge. You will get this in the next module of this lesson!

If you have not signed up for the full 8-Weeks Of Optimal Living Challange, you can pre-register below.

https://optimizedlife.clickfunnels.com/free-8-week-challenge

Or you can subscribe and get updates on all of our new blog posts, tips, and freebies.

https://signup.optimizedlife.com/optin

Disclosure: If you have physical limitations that keep you from being able to exercise, please speak with your healthcare provider.

Sources:

https://www.bluezones.com/2018/08/secret-to-longer-life-is-low-tech/