Take a Hike….no, Literally!!!

Thinking about my first official blog post, I ran through some ideas for what I should write about. Health, happiness, wealth and balance were all very interesting.
These ideas are very intertwined. They are often deeply sought after and rarely found. Our health is directly impacted by our happiness and our happiness influenced by our health. While caring for persons along the spectrum of wellness, from healthy children to terminally ill elderly, I have seen this in practice. Unhealthy individuals often feel guilt and shame at the impact their health problems have on family, finances and lifestyle. This in turn directly impacts their happiness.
Mental health and physical health are also very intermingled. A person with a mental health diagnosis can have difficulty making sure they care for their physical health and a person with a physical medical diagnosis can have difficulty caring for their mental health.
Here are two such examples. A person with COPD is limited in the amount and type of physical activity due to having symptoms of shortness of breath, often missing out on activities that require physical stamina and may become depressed by missing on life events with family and friends. A person with a mental health disease such as bipolar disorder often will cause that person to lack the mental motivation to perform physical activities and therefore will develop medical conditions related to inactivity such as obesity, diabetes and coronary artery disease.
How have you improved your mental health by your physical habits? What physical habits have helped your overall mental health? Research has shown that the simple act of taking a walk even as short as 10 minutes, not only helps you feel more energized mentally but physically as well. William Shakespeare wrote over 451 years ago…. ‘a turn or two I’ll walk, to still my beating mind‘ – Prospero, The Tempest
I’d like to challenge you this week to go for a walk a minimum of 10 minutes, 3 days this coming week. Let me know what effects it has on your mental and physical health.