(I started a new category on the blog today. I have seen so many studies that have made me wonder how on earth someone is getting paid to study whether or not someone perceives the sky blue on a sunny day that it makes me think I got into the wrong field when I went to law school. I should have gotten into research!)
Have you noticed you seem a bit happier lately? Are you excited by the thought of a lazy weekend that includes a picnic at a park? Do you feel more active when the sun shines?
For myself, I feel better about exercise when the day is longer and drier; I don’t enjoy the thought of running in the dark and cold hours before bootcamp starts at 6am when I know I’ll still be out in the dark and cold hours after the second bootcamp class of my day ends at 8am. It isn’t that I don’t do the run or the workout, but I assure you I’m not as happy about it!
Researchers conducted a study of how postmenopausal women exercised for 18 months. They found that the participants worked up more of a sweat during the summer! (Yeah. Big surprise.) They made sure to confirm the increased sweat was not only due to higher temperatures.
They then put some of the study participants on an exercise regimen of 150 minutes of exercise each week and a healthy diet. I admit I want you to work out for longer than 30 minutes a day. You deserve an hour a day, most days. Work up to what you can do, but don’t think you’re automatically done after half an hour.
The ones who exercised 150 minutes a week ended up with the elevated activity levels throughout the year, even in the bleak and dreary winter months. That’s a pretty good result!
Your goal of physical fitness really should be more than fitness during your exercise routine. It should be an increase in your overall activity level throughout all areas of your life.
So if you have noticed you are more likely to be more active in the lighter longer days of spring and summer, get into an exercise habit that includes at least 150 minutes of exercise each week. You may just be able to have some of those summertime feelings all year long!
