Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Starting slow: Exercising for Five Minutes in the Morning

The past couple of weeks have been really cold in Boston, and I've been avoiding walking outside. Usually this is my main exercise. This decline in exercise is just part of being in Boston in winter. It's funny that, as a public health person I have a strong sense of what I would benefit from doing, but in the cold it just becomes way to daunting (and I'm not going to get gym membership). Do any of you feel like that?

In response, I decided that, while the coffee was brewing in the stovetop expresso maker in the morning, and while the milk was being heated up, I would excercise. It's an extremely short amount of time (5-10 minutes), but I can already notice the difference during the day and also in the evening when I go to bed. I feel more awake and can relax really quickly when I fall into bed. I think what makes it easy for me is knowing it's a very short time, and that if I want to I can do more but only those few minutes are obligatory. It's just a place to start.

I do some pilates and a couple of yoga exercises (sun salutations). If you're interested in starting some beginner exercises, there's a lot of great websites that show the movements and explain what you need to be careful of while doing the exercise (for example, this one).

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