Let’s face it. Very few of us take care of ourselves how we should. Days get longer, work gets busier and sleep gets shorter and shorter. Sometimes we are left with the impossible choice of health versus convenience. And often times, when we can spare a moment, there’s simply not enough energy to even care.
But convenience and exhaustion aside, maintaining our health should come first.
Athletes are programmed to fuel their bodies first so they can perform to the best of their abilities. We should all consider ourselves athletes in our own right.
We are all required to perform each and every day. We have jobs, families, kids, and general responsibilities that require us to be at our best.
When your work life is demanding or you are pulled in a number of directions with kids’ activities and appointments, your brain is constantly in a state of fog. Sleep deprivation has been proven to increase stress, lower brain function and increase blood pressure.
The same problem exists when it’s time to eat. It’s much easier to opt for a greasy drive-thru burger and fries than it is to use one of your few spare minutes to prepare a meal each morning.
Exercise? What’s that? And just when would we do it? We all know exercise decreases stress, improves health, and makes us feel better in general. So why don’t we just do it?
It’s time to change our thinking on what’s important in our lives and start focusing on our health. But the key is to actually get up, get out, and do it. We could all find an extra 30 minutes to squeeze into our day. It’s not something we should do, it’s something we must do to perform our best in the game of life.
Renee Marler | Renee@CedarbrookMedia.com
