First day of summer! It feels like real summer here today, gorgeous warm sunny weather. I hope everyone is having a great start to the most wonderful season of the year. Growing up, summer meant, first and foremost, no school, and along with the treasured free time came endless soccer tournaments, track meets, and outdoor games [...and popsicles]. We were never inside during the summer, even through the night we were out playing basketball and running around. Simply, summer meant endless hours of physical activity. My first summer working was difficult, I felt confined to my office and deprived of the glorious aspects of the season. Now I have learned to understand that you just have to condense all the great summer activities to before and after work, and go really hard on the weekends.
I have started to take advantage of the weather by walking the 3 miles to and from work whenever possible. The only disadvantage? A little something called sweating in work clothes. Regardless, the 60 minutes to and from work enjoying the fresh air and clearing my head more than make up for the umm...perspiration effect. I do the strategic 'stop for iced coffee' midway through the walk to break things up if its warm outside. I love nothing more than strutting along to some good music, letting my thoughts wander as I watch the poor souls in their cars sitting in traffic. I feel empowered, healthy and fit. I challenge everyone to walk or bike to work in the next week or so. Logistically it can be a bit of a pain to figure out, but once you get it down it is really wonderful. Give it a shot!
This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous. 80 and sunny both days. Boston finally gave its habitants something to celebrate on Saturday and Sunday! Even beyond the Bruins parade. I took full advantage of the [pre]summer weekend by filling it with as many activities as I could possibly schedule. I spent Saturday doing 3 hours of rock climbing and playing a soccer game, and Sunday I woke up bright and early to tackle the Harvard Stadium, followed by a game of tennis. Then I took a nice leisurely walk to the other end of Cambridge to meet a friend for a BBQ dinner. Essentially, I enjoyed the summer weather in the best way I know how - ACTIVITY!
I occasionally think I am superwoman with no limits. This weekend was one of those times. Reality struck hard on Monday morning as my alarm went off at 5:30am and I tried to get out of bed and head to the gym for a lift. My legs barely made it to the bathroom, much less the gym. I ended up right back in bed for another hour of sleep. It felt great to work myself to such physical exhaustion this weekend that I needed a day off! I love pushing the limits when it comes to my fitness level. I felt good skipping the gym, and decided to walk to and from work to loosen things up, which worked like a charm.
Use this gorgeous weather to GET MOVING! The more you move, the happier you are, I promise you that. Fresh air does wonders for the soul, so get outside and do something fun and new. Welcome summer by greeting it head on with a new physical challenge!!! Happy trails!
Of course you are right about exercise improving one's mood. This guy Blumenthal found that exercise was as effective as anti-depressants even among those with severe depression, and the side-effects are way better. Why isn't it prescribed?
ReplyDeletehttp://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/159/19/2349
My pet theory is that a lot of cases of depression grow out of the fact that we all have desk jobs now (I would extend this to kids who's play is now scheduled at best and often sedentary). For most of human evolution - really until the last couple of decades - most of us did some real physical labor in the course of a day. Now we sit, accumulating stress with no practical way to exercise the fight or flight mechanism. That can't be good.
It's about six miles from my home to the office and there's no shower at the office, so I take the train in and run home with my work clothes from the day, empty thermos, and whatever in my backpack. It's not as pleasant to run with the extra gear, but it's totally worth it to indulge the flight reflex. I am very ready to go at 6PM.
-Unmedicated in Newton