Get off the Couch, Pork Chop
This week heralds the tender green beginnings of spring. You know what that means? Yeah. Swimsuit weather is just around the corner . . . and the thought of shimmying my winterish jiggly-puff body into a pair of shorts makes me break out in hives. Really. I've got hives today. Go figure.
But back to the topic at hand. It's past time for all of us to get off the couch and exercise -- especially if you're working at a computer screen all day. Besides the obvious health benefits of strengthening your bones, shedding extra fat, and improving the ol' cardio system, it turns out there's one more big bonus to exercising:
Physical activity boosts creativity.
Oh, quit your groaning. I know you wished I had said that eating doughnuts enhances creativity, but there aren't any studies out there proving that (though if you know of any, please give me a holler--I'd sign up to be a lab rat for that any day). There are, however, studies that show regular exercise is associated with improved divergent and convergent thinking. That's scientificky-type speech for the components of creative thinking.
As for me, my plan is to do the
once a day for the next week. I'll report back next Monday to let you know how I did. It seriously is 7 minutes, no more, no less, though you can make it repeat and do more if you like. It's basically an app that has fast-paced exercises one after the other, with videos so you can see what you're supposed to be doing. I've got it on my phone.
But you do you. Even if all you do is add one jumping jack to your daily routine, you're headed in the right direction. Just plan on doing it for one week. You can live through seven days of exercise, and who knows? You might continue on with it for longer.