Reflection on a podcast about Exercise
I recently listened to Dr Daniel E. Lieberman, who is a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, USA, where he is the Edwin M Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. He is best known for his research on the evolution of the human head and the human body.
He has written many books but on the podcast was speaking about his 2021 publication, Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy.
He was advising on the multiple health benefits of exercise and fact that preventative healthcare is still not the model that we have in the Western World. He stated that 3% of the US health budget is spent on prevention, but that research has proven that 75% of diseases and conditions are preventable.
One of the main prevention methods is exercise, both for physical and mental health.
So I think if our government is not going to drive this in our health policy then it is up to us individually and on a community level to get moving .
We teach a Decider Skill called SELF, which is the fundamental skill of looking after our own health and wellbeing.
The acronym of SELF is :
S Sleep
E Eating & Exercise
L looking after illness, medications, drug & alcohol use and stressors
F Finding something that gives you a sense of fun, joy, purpose, achievement and connection and do it every day.
Tip! Start at the bottom and get some fun and zest in your life that will make the other things easier. Don’t wait to be in the mood to go walking, or a jog, cycle or whatever…. Get moving everyday even for very short periods and then mood and motivation will follow. As a wise friend who was a CBT Therapist used say “I never met a man who felt worse after a walk than he did before it”.