Walking - Increase Your Positive Energy and Happiness
By Shannen Lee If you are looking for a fast way to increase your level of happiness immediately, try taking a short 10-minute walk. This is not too good to be true, but a phenomenon that is backed up by scientific research. In this article, we will first go through the research evidence backing this, why people still do not exercise more despite the known benefits. At the end, we will also discuss ways to overcome it so that you can be on your way to move more and gain greater happiness.
Professor Robert Thayer is a psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach. He wrote the book Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise, a work that has received tremendous reviews and his work has been cited in other essays and professional publications.
As Prof Thayer explains it, "calm energy" is a state of high energy and low tension, and it lines up closely with happiness. In research that he conducted with his team, they had people walk on certain days for three weeks and compared the energy levels of these people on the days that walked against the days that they did not. On the days that they walked, the test subjects experienced higher energy levels.
According to Prof Thayer, walking arouses the body's activiy level. When you are not moving, your body is in a sedentary mode and various systems of the body are not active. Once you begin walking, these systems are activated. For example, you will experience greater metabolism and cardiovascular activity. Adrenaline begins flowing and your body stimulates more neurotransmitters and neuromodulaters like dopamine and norepinephrine. All these work together to lift your energy level in a positive way, giving you more happiness.
It does not need to be a long walk either. Depressed woman in a research study were more energetic on days that they walked just 15 minutes versus days that they did not. You do not need to spend an hour working out hard at the gym. If you cannot do 15 minutes, start with your first 3 minutes. Prof Thayer wrote that just getting up and doing your first 50 steps, you could start feeling different.
Based on such established research and evidence, though, a lot of people still fail to take action for various reasons. On of the reasons often cited is the "lack of time." People often feel stressed out and tired after a hectic day at work, and with the weekends busy with the children's activities and catching up with errands, it because very difficult to find the energy to begin going out for a walk. This could be a downward negative spiral as the more tired and low energy you become, the less you want to get up and take a walk, and the less happy you end up, and then the more tired you will feel and so on.
One really need to take a step back and look at the big picture. I once heard from a successful entrepreneur that there is nothing known as the "lack of time," it's really a lack of priorities. For example, even if a person is busy and tired, he/she still gets up go to work everyday or take time to do grocery shopping each week. Think about what it means if you have more energy to face your everyday activities and happiness, how much more will the quality of your life increase? Is that worth going on a 10-minute walk around the block a few times a week?
Professor Robert Thayer is a psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach. He wrote the book Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise, a work that has received tremendous reviews and his work has been cited in other essays and professional publications.
As Prof Thayer explains it, "calm energy" is a state of high energy and low tension, and it lines up closely with happiness. In research that he conducted with his team, they had people walk on certain days for three weeks and compared the energy levels of these people on the days that walked against the days that they did not. On the days that they walked, the test subjects experienced higher energy levels.
According to Prof Thayer, walking arouses the body's activiy level. When you are not moving, your body is in a sedentary mode and various systems of the body are not active. Once you begin walking, these systems are activated. For example, you will experience greater metabolism and cardiovascular activity. Adrenaline begins flowing and your body stimulates more neurotransmitters and neuromodulaters like dopamine and norepinephrine. All these work together to lift your energy level in a positive way, giving you more happiness.
It does not need to be a long walk either. Depressed woman in a research study were more energetic on days that they walked just 15 minutes versus days that they did not. You do not need to spend an hour working out hard at the gym. If you cannot do 15 minutes, start with your first 3 minutes. Prof Thayer wrote that just getting up and doing your first 50 steps, you could start feeling different.
Based on such established research and evidence, though, a lot of people still fail to take action for various reasons. On of the reasons often cited is the "lack of time." People often feel stressed out and tired after a hectic day at work, and with the weekends busy with the children's activities and catching up with errands, it because very difficult to find the energy to begin going out for a walk. This could be a downward negative spiral as the more tired and low energy you become, the less you want to get up and take a walk, and the less happy you end up, and then the more tired you will feel and so on.
One really need to take a step back and look at the big picture. I once heard from a successful entrepreneur that there is nothing known as the "lack of time," it's really a lack of priorities. For example, even if a person is busy and tired, he/she still gets up go to work everyday or take time to do grocery shopping each week. Think about what it means if you have more energy to face your everyday activities and happiness, how much more will the quality of your life increase? Is that worth going on a 10-minute walk around the block a few times a week?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shannen_Lee
No comments:
Post a Comment