Prioritize fun and enjoyment in physical activity, such as dancing, playing childhood games, or playful sports, to ensure long-term adherence and intrinsic motivation. This approach makes movement feel less like punishment and more like instant gratification.
Find and utilize small opportunities to weave movement into your daily routine, such as standing during phone calls, using a standing desk, taking stairs, or performing short exercises during TV commercial breaks. This accumulates significant movement minutes without requiring dedicated workout time.
Consciously choose the less convenient option to increase daily movement, such as taking stairs instead of lifts, walking short distances instead of driving, or carrying groceries. This practice not only boosts physical activity but also translates to healthier choices in other life areas.
Adopt a 360-degree approach to health, recognizing that food, sleep, stress management, and movement are all intertwined and equally important components. Avoid over-prioritizing one factor, as improving one area can positively impact others.
Create environmental cues to convert poor lifestyle habits into better ones, such as placing workout gear by your bed to prompt immediate movement upon waking, even for just a minute or two. This strategy helps forge new habits over time.
Recognize movement as a form of daily medicine that offers therapeutic benefits like reducing inflammation, improving gut microbiome, lowering blood pressure, and boosting mood hormones. Understand that you need a daily dose, with varying intensities.
Understand how to personalize your movement approach based on your current context, recognizing that intense physical activity may be detrimental when you are chronically stressed or sleep-deprived. Sometimes, longer sleep or a gentle walk is more beneficial than a hard workout.
Ensure adequate rest and recovery, especially sleep, to allow your body to repair and rebuild after physical activity. Neglecting sleep can undo the positive effects of exercise and lead to overtraining.
Actively break up prolonged periods of sitting throughout the day, as an hour of exercise in the evening may not fully counteract the negative effects of being sedentary for many hours. Find opportunities to stand or move frequently.
Engage in ‘animal moves’ (crawling, jumping, balancing, varied intensity, strength, mindful movement) to activate a wide repertoire of human movement patterns. This approach can be fun, engaging, and improve overall fitness components like agility and coordination.
Utilize mindful movement, such as mimicking various animal moves, to relieve stress and switch off from daily pressures. This type of engagement can be therapeutic and contribute to overall well-being.
Leverage modern technology, such as setting an hourly alarm on a smartwatch, to provide gentle nudges to move throughout the day. When prompted, perform 60 seconds of any movement to break sedentary periods.
Involve family members, especially children, in playful movement activities like ‘primal play tag’ to make physical activity fun and engaging for everyone. This fosters connection, creates lasting memories, and provides an effective workout.
Start your day with vigorous activity, such as extended stretches and body shakes (pandiculation), mimicking how young children and animals naturally wake up. This can serve as a catalyst to feel alert and ready to ’take on the world’ without needing stimulants like coffee.
Initiate or participate in group movement challenges, like encouraging colleagues to take the stairs together, to build community support and sustain new healthy habits over the long term. This shared experience can increase adherence and motivation.