Guest Blog Post: “Just Move It,” in April Carter’s exact words

Want motivation to get up out of that chair? Blogger April Carter writes for us here at da-AL’s about how exercise makes her feel great …

My wrist vibrates. I glance down, its reminding me to get up and walk. Little red dots indicate that I met the hourly 250 steps but one gray dot sits there in a line of red. I blankly wonder how I missed an hour since I’ve been conditioned like a lab mouse to get up and move at the insistent vibration. I get up to walk and King Julian’s song runs through my mind:

“I Like to Move It Move It…

…Ya Like To (MOVE IT!)”

My granddaughter would be so proud.

After slapping the Fitbit Blaze on my wrist last month I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with the tracking device. Yes, I know, technically it’s so much more than that but I have an eerie sense that big brother is ALWAYS watching and tracking me and they kind of are. You see, the company I work for encourages fitness and, as part of their wellness program, provides employees a Fitbit of their choice. Just connect it the company’s wellness portal and start stepping towards a million steps to accrue points towards keeping health insurance. Yay for health insurance!

Like any good soldier I follow the device’s prompt and get to stepping all the while having mental conversations with the pushy little thing. I’ll keep that to myself. I don’t want to scare the children.

My EMPLOYER would be so proud.

But moving just a little bit every hour seems to be a huge benefit that has even hit the New York Times with an article by Gretchen Reynolds, “Work, Walk 5 Minutes. Work”.  She references a new study, which was published in November in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. The researchers decided to test several methods of increasing movement among office workers. This study basically found that moving, just a few minutes made the office workers feel better.

Yay for feeling better!

Putting all fun aside, adding movement, whether walking, taking the stairs or playing with the kiddos, have proven health benefits.  The Mayo Clinic also cites 7 health benefits to exercise from controlling weight to having more energy to my very favorite bullet, “Exercise can be fun… and social!” Yes! Simply engaging in a walk with friends or by yourself in nature increases the happiness meter.

For me this is what it’s all about – BEING HAPPY.  So, get MOVING!

“I Like to Move It Move IT!

I Like to Move It Move IT!”

Cheers!