Women's Healthy Living: Taking It Outside

Here in Vermont, August has looked a bit more like September with cooler weather and much more rain than I remember in the last 20+ years I've lived here. Good thing I don't let a little weather get in my way of getting outdoors. 'Cuz without getting outdoors, I might go stir-crazy living up here. I'm a Texas farm girl born and raised, but left the state late in my teenage years and except for a few brief stops along the way, haven't really called Texas my home since. Still, my days living in the country seem to have instilled in me a need for the outdoors. I imagine that most people, even if they didn't grow up on farms or in the country, have a similar need, even if they don't realize it.

There's something about the outdoors that revitalizes. Even when the outdoors is city streets. I spent some of my years since my Texas childhood in New York City and Boston, and remember fondly the walks along city streets with forays into parks that I could find. Still refreshed me, even though the air might not have been as fresh as in Vermont.

LynnAnn Covell, our senior exercise physiologist on staff at Green Mountain at Fox Run, just penned a FitBriefing (our monthly articles looking at issues of interest for women who look to lose weight -- that they gained through unhealthy lifestyles -- in a healthy way by normalizing their eating and finding the joy in physical activity) that addresses finding the fun in outdoor activities. Here's what she has to say about how getting outdoors can revitalize us and help motivate us to move in her article "Healthy Living: Taking It Outside!"

When we spend time outdoors, we can reconnect with the joy and relaxation of physical activity. It also helps us reconnect to the intrinsic motivation for physical activity that we experienced as a child. We were moving, because we could and wanted to, not because we “had” to.

It's a gorgeous day here in Vermont, and I'm not going to sit around too much longer indoors. I plan to spend my day gardening and taking Jack, our golden retriever, on his daily walk (ok, not daily but I try), me with my Nordic walking poles and him with his nose exploring every scent he can pick up along the way. I've got a great day in store. Hope you do, too!