I’m sure you’re aware that walking is good for you. But did you know that constant movement lies at the core of a healthy life?

What I mean by that is this: we are meant to move. We have adapted over millennia for constant activity. Not high-level activity, but activity nonetheless. Whether it’s walking at a slow pace or just moving constantly in one place, our bodies are meant to be in nearly-constant motion.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Dr. Levine of the Mayo Clinic has determined there is a strong correlation between the amount of activity a person has throughout the day and how obese they are. He studied non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and found that exercise is not necessary for staying thin, movement of any kind counts. Obese people are stationary about 2 - 2 1/2 hours per day more than lean people. Put simply, people who are consistently active are almost all lean.

Think about it: just a slow walk, one mile per hour, leads to burning 800 calories during a workday. I’m not even talking about a level of activity that would lead to sweat-stains, I’m talking about a slow pace. Compare that to most office-workers, who only move their fingers and hands, and that’s a very big difference in calorie expenditure in a day.

So what did Dr. Levine find? As I mentioned, active people stay lean. But he also determined that it doesn’t take all that much activity. The determining factors have to do with the amount of movement, the duration, and not the intensity. Walking around, standing, fidgeting, changing positions… these are all beneficial. It’s about moving more than just your hands as you work.

Most movement for any individual, even gym-goers, falls into the low-intensity category. Walking around the office or around the house, getting up to brush your teeth or take a shower, going for a cup of coffee… this type of motion accounts for the majority of your non-metabolic calorie expenditure. Going to the gym pales in comparison, in terms of calories burned over a week. When this movement goes away, we become obese. Our metabolism slows greatly, and we suddenly are eating much more than we are burning. Next thing we know, we’re 20 pounds heavier and gaining.

How can you reverse this expansionary trend? Move more. Go for walks. Better yet, walk while you work. Yes, you can now get (or make) a workstation built into a treadmill, so that you can be motive through the day. Hold meetings in a large space where you can walk while you talk. Walk to and from work if you can (or at least park as far from where you’re going as you have time for). Incorporate movement into as much of your day as possible.

Not only is movement important to your body fitness, it also has benefits for your heart and mind. Being active on a regular basis keeps you thinking sharp and performing at a much higher level than being stationary all the time.

Get up, move around, stay active. Find excuses to go for a walk whenever possible.

Now as to how Dr. Levine determined this: well, let’s just say that the underwear he had his patients wear was designed for fighter pilots. I’ll let you read his research papers to find out more about that…

Resources:

• Mayo Clinic Discovers a Key to “Low Metabolism” — and Major Factor in Obesity [www.mayoclinic.org]
• NON-EXERCISE ACTIVITY THERMOGENESIS [mayoresearch.mayo.edu]
• Nonstop Office: Maybe It’s Good for You [www.washingtonpost.com]

Other news

• Cheaper than the spa: US prisoner sues over weight loss [news.bbc.co.uk]
• So we’re known for our military and our TV shows… what a great way to judge our culture: Country profile: United States of America [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Want a girl? Eat less: High-calorie diet linked to boys [news.bbc.co.uk]

Quote for the week

The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want. - Ben Stein

From the editor

Thanks to everyone, the transition to the new distribution for the newsletter seems to have gone off with only a few small hiccups. I’m glad to see the new system is working out as expected.

So what do you think? I always appreciate comments and suggestions, and with all the changes I would like to hear your feedback. Use the feedback links on the site or add a comment to any issue… I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

We live in a fast world, and it’s getting faster every year. At work, we are expected to do more, faster, with less… fewer people are there to do the same job, and the pressure is on for it to be done immediately. We take this same sense of rush in demand for immediacy with us everywhere, into our personal lives, into our relationships, into the kitchen and the den and the bedroom. We want it done now, and we want it ‘just so’.

How often do you step back and take a breath? How often do you make yourself slow down and enjoy a few minutes of free time? How often do you put your projects, hobbies, to-do lists, and everything else on hold and just rest?

I don’t mean going to bed. I mean taking a break from everything. You know, stop to smell the roses. Living life in the moment instead of worrying about what needs to be done or might have been missed.

If you want to unlock the true creative potential of the mind, resting is crucial. Taking a few minutes each hour to clear the mind will pay for itself again and again in increased productivity and more creative thought.

How do you make the most of the few minutes? Meditation is a very effective use of the time, but so is going for a quick walk around the building, or doodling, or anything that allows your mind to be free to roam for a bit. As long as it doesn’t encourage concentration, it’s probably on the right track.

Have you been busy lately? Take a few minutes for yourself… rest, relax, and clear your mind. You’ll be glad you did!

Other news

• Why staying ahead is important with your body: Belly fat ‘makes more fat cells’ [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Why it should matter to you: Pot belly linked to heart disease [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Why you need to stop making excuses and just fix it: Why the beer belly may be a myth [news.bbc.co.uk]

Quote for the week

Put duties aside at least an hour before bed and perform soothing, quiet activities that will help you relax. - Dianne Hales

From the editor

It’s official, the newsletter has moved. For those of you receiving this by email, you won’t get any more newsletters this way until you take the next step to subscribe to the new mailing list:

1. Fill out this form
2. After a few minutes, you will receive a confirmation email (look in your junk folder, it will very likely go there)
3. Click the link in that email, and you’re set!

If you prefer to receive this using a feed reader, you can use this feed directly or follow the links on that page to add to your MyYahoo page or iGoogle page or whatever other reading software you use.

The new website is up, still at http://www.weeklywellnessnews.com, and as I figure out all the available publishing tools it should clean up a little over time. If you have any problems with the switch-over, please use the feedback form on the main website to let me know about it.

Thanks for taking these few necessary steps, and let me know what you think of the changes!

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

Three weeks ago I talked about doing the job right the first time, about taking the time to do it well so that you wouldn’t have to revisit work you had completed to fix it later. The following week, I discussed relaxing your own expectations around how well jobs needed to be done to be considered done well. And last week, I offered guidance on recognizing your abilities for what they are rather than demanding perfection in everything, about taking it in stride.

How do you get started though? All that is well and good when you get to the end, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What should be the first step? Say you’re writing an argument for a legal document or a story or a speech or documentation for your company’s product, or whatever. Where do you begin?

Often, the most productive first step you can take is to simply data dump everything that comes to mind. Spend 10 minutes or an hour or however long it takes and get all your thoughts written down on paper. Every thought, no matter how it relates (”did I leave the iron on?” is OK) gets added to your paper somewhere. Dump it all. Once you get the hang of it you’ll cramp your fingers, you’ll be writing so much. Get it all down.

Then walk away.

An amazing thing will happen. Your mind will open up and you’ll be able to think more clearly. Your thoughts will stop going through the same gyrations repeatedly, and you’ll find new ideas and new insights. Your memory will stop forcing itself to the front of your attention, and this will give room for your creative mind to step in and generate new ideas. Once the memory is freed from its job of holding everything, you’ll find yourself full of energy and functioning more effectively.

That’s the whole point. To free the mind, you must free yourself from the jobs the mind feels it is necessary to perform. Have you ever noticed that really creative people are generally not as good with remembering the day-to-day stuff? Part of that is out of our control, but another part of that is learned. You can learn to be more creative if you relax the structured mind from it’s duty.

Of course, it won’t happen that way overnight. If you have years of experience remembering every little detail of everything you need to do, you’ll have to retrain your brain to focus itself elsewhere.

And you’ll find that the mind is like a fountain when you start getting all the remembered stuff out of the way. It might take three or four sessions just to get through the ridiculous minutiae that you cart around with you moment you’re awake. Then it will take more data dumps to bring out all the new stuff you uncovered. And it will take a while for the mind to trust that all the stuff you’re writing down will really be remembered and not just lost or thrown away. So you have to put it in a place where you’ll revisit it regularly (your to-do list, or your journal, or wherever it needs to go).

But once you get everything out, your creativity will be able to soar.

So you’ve dumped everything relevant to the paper you’re writing. Walk away. Take a day off. Later you’ll have to deal with all the info. Organize it. Throw it in an outline. If you know how to mind-map, that’s even better. Get all the bits put together cohesively, and from those groupings create the framework that will become your finished product.

But that’s for later. For now, just get it out there.

Other news

• Who says we’re not an instant gratification society? ‘Patients get an instant result’ [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Well, duh! Anaesthetic drug ‘numbs memory’ [news.bbc.co.uk]
• If the shoe, or rather bra, fits: Right bra ‘could halt breast ops’ [news.bbc.co.uk]

Quote for the week

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao-tzu

From the editor

I know, I know, I keep mentioning an upcoming change to the way the newsletter will be distributed. However, I still need to do a little research before I’m sure how to proceed with the changes. Most important to me is that there is no disruption in distribution while I’m switching everything over… therefore, it will be coming soon, but I’m not sure when.

That means this week you can sit back and enjoy the week and not have to do anything until later. At least as far as this newsletter is concerned. Cheers!

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

It has been said that with anything in your life, any circumstance, any condition, any result, you have three choices: you can leave it, you can change it, or you can accept it. This is true of your job, your relationships, your money situation… anything. While the best choice isn’t always easy to see, ultimately these are the only options you have.

Of the three, acceptance is the most difficult.

Leaving it behind is the easiest. Many people find it easier to walk away from a difficult situation than to face it. It’s human nature. Usually this is also the least effective way to handle anything of significance. For most of the day-to-day noise of our life, however, it is the best strategy to use. We can’t possibly assimilate everything that comes our way; the vast majority of what we see, hear, and feel in the day is simply ignored.

Changing our surroundings is the next approach. A large part of initiative and performance is measured by what we do to change the world we live in. If the majority of people ignore the world, the ‘movers and shakers’ change it, adapt it, make it more interesting, more safe, or more useful. American culture especially celebrates those who create change.

Accepting reality is the toughest of them all. While creating change can be physically and mentally demanding, learning acceptance is emotionally demanding. Accepting the world we live in, the current circumstance at work or at home, is challenging, but it is also extremely rewarding. To be able to accept anything we chose to, this gives us absolute freedom.

What must we learn to accept? Well, the things that are beyond our power to change, for starters. You may not like the way others on the road are driving, but nothing you can do will have much impact on them. Ditto with the behavior of your coworkers or the weather or… well, of any system that is bigger than you.

But why stop there? Why not also learn to accept the things that we can change but don’t have to? For instance, I can exert time, attention, and energy each time I make a meal to make it taste just perfect, just as I imagine. Alternately, I can experiment and then accept the results, for better or for worse. Rather than continually trying to improve it, I can make the choice to experience it the way it is and enjoy it as it is. Each meal is a surprise.

Should acceptance be universal? No. Just as there are appropriate times to accept our world, there are also appropriate times to change it, and to ignore it. No one of the three is the end-all answer. If we just accept everything the way it is, the world would never change, our daily lives would be monotonous, we would be at the mercy of the dangers of everyday life. But just as we should not universally try to accept everything, we also should not universally try to change everything. Acceptance liberates us from the binds of life and gives us the freedom to experience nirvana in any moment.

How does one learn acceptance? There are many books on the topic. many religions teach a variety of practices towards this end, and you can find workshops all around the world giving pointers and guides. I recommend you look around you, I’m sure you’ll find the resources you need. Or send me an email, and I we can discuss personal coaching towards learning acceptance. It is not an easy journey, but it is a powerful one.

Learn to accept the things you cannot change. Better yet, learn to accept anything you chose to whenever you want. With practice, you will find it comes in handy. With mastery, you will find true power and absolute freedom the likes of which you cannot imagine.

Other news

• Don’t punish them… No such thing as naughty anymore? [news.bbc.co.uk]
• … don’t drug them… Fear over child tranquilliser use [news.bbc.co.uk]
• … and whatever you do, don’t educate them… Many ADHD pupils excluded - poll [news.bbc.co.uk]

Quote for the week

I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it. - Rita Mae Brown

From the editor

I had an enjoyable experience today: I was walking home from work, and I found myself unzipping my coat to stay cool enough. It won’t be long until I’m in short sleeves every day… I can’t wait!

Another reminder, in the near future I’ll be changing the way the newsletter is distributed. Stay tuned for details…

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff