Make Time to be Healthy

Making time for your health should be one of life’s top priorities, because as the old cliché goes, “Without your health, you have nothing.” I know it’s tough, what with juggling the responsibilities of work and family. But if you take control of healthy habits you will enjoy greater productivity, experience less stress, and will even have more energy to do the other things that make life worth living.

Here are five things you can to do to build fitness into your busy life:

1. Put it on the schedule because you know if you simply try to “fit it in” it will not get done.
Block out specific times of day and days of the week that you will devote to fitness. Your exercise routine can be done at the gym, in your home, or include running or biking around the neighborhood. It doesn’t much matter where so long as the commitment is made and kept.

2. Select activities you find enjoyable.
There is nothing worse than “forcing” yourself to do your exercise routine. If you hate the activity chances are you will find any excuse to not do it. The emotional toll will be crankiness and guilt; the physical toll, well, just step on the scale. Running, tennis, swimming, yoga, ice hockey – you name it; the choices are infinite.

3. Don’t overextend and beat yourself up if you can only squeeze in fifteen or twenty minutes.
No need to dedicate two straight hours to physical fitness. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish in just a short amount of time. In fact, there is a very good, reliable exercise routine that takes just seven minutes! Check it out here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_r=0

4. Exercise at your desk.
Though stepping up and away from the desk is a better option, there are ways for you to squeeze in a little fitness even while at work. Here’s an article on the ten best exercises you can do at your desk without breaking a sweat. It’s a good alternative, as it is important to get up and move around while at work rather than sitting at your computer all day: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/02/06/the-10-best-exercises-to-do-at-your-desk/

5. Make fitness a family activity or something you do with friends.
A long walk or bike ride, a round of golf, a hike in the woods, or a visit to the town swimming pool. Whatever it may be you can likely do it with others and be social as well.

At the end of the day it isn’t that difficult to make time for fitness just as long as you have made it a priority to “just do it.”