Exercise Is Medicine TM

I do not personally need any persuasion or convincing to believe that exercise is vital for maintaining optimal mental, physical, biological and intellectual health. I know the research exists however and apply it to my life as I hope you do.

There is an initiative however, to incorporate Exercise Is Medicine into our cultural infrastructure so that health care professionals make exercise a recommendation for prevention and treatment of disease. I have joined the initiative and will also link the page so that you can see the many others who have become part of the EIM network.

The program was begun and is managed by the American College of Sports Medicine. They promote the 5A approach which is also used for treating tobacco dependence. This is basically to advise every patient at every visit to become physically active. (ask, advise, assess, assist, arrange)
Here is more information on Exercise is Medicine.

I bring this up today because as you must have deduced from my recent postings, things have been busy. As complicated and diverse as my work weeks have been I have continued to maintain no less than six days a week of exercise - including running, aerobics, dance, and strength training - I total upwards of ten hours a week of "planned" physical activity.

Recently my Mom, noting that I do A LOT - with the blogging and cooking AND working- suggested that maybe I could exercise a little less while things were so hectic. But you see, it is just the opposite! Exercise IS MY MEDICINE and if things are stressful I need more exercise (endorphins) not less :)

And that is what I want other people to understand. Not uber exercisers, but the people who tell me that they struggle to get 30 minutes of exercise on 3-4 days a week... (oh and let me just add, my MOM is no couch potato - she waitresses no less than 5 days a week and walks and rides her bike daily as well -)

So for the laggards and for me - it can NEVER be a matter of IF you will work out on a given day or within a given week - but, where, when and how. Because my boss requires us to write out our projected work schedule weekly (no 2 days are the same I assure you) it allows me to view my week and find my windows of opportunity. I am fortunate to have a friend who lets me choose our weight lifting days and for my runs, I just make them happen. Classes at the gym are hard to work around, but for the past two Tuesday's I went ahead to class as planned but left about 15 to 20 minutes early so I could go back to work. I.e. it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

The Exercise Wagon:
While I was writing this post a friend called. During the conversation she told me that she had to get back to her running. She has done this before - gets going good and then things happen and she once again finds herself sedentary. That got me to thinking - it is the opposite of the saying, "you can't have one cigarette or you will relapse." "You can't skip exercise days or you'll become sedentary again."

You don't have to exercise 7 days a week, but you do have to keep your schedule - if you miss more than two planned workouts - you are probably going to relapse and will find yourself months later feeling heavy and unfit only having to start the whole thing over. Exercise and calorie moderation cannot be temporary things - unless you want temporary health.