Human beings are built to move. Before "modern life" took over, people moved all day, almost every day, performing the hard work of survival like hunting and gathering.  Our bodies and our minds are oriented toward movement and we seem to heal when in motion. Study after study has shown that exercising, even for a brief period of time each day, leads to improvement in cognitive ability, sleep, blood circulation and well being.  We are meant to be active.  Some research has demonstrated that people who were depressed and who exercised on a regular basis improved as much as their non-exercising counterparts who were only taking an anti-depressant.  The exercise seemed to have as strong an effect as the anti-depressant on reducing their symptoms of depression.

Most of us know that if we were to exercise, we would be much better off.  Understanding this and changing our behavior so that we exercise more are two VERY different things.  Psychotherapy is a great place to address the impediments to exercising more.  Here are some tips that I have found are helpful for people who want to exercise more frequently:

1. Find an activity you enjoy.   Any activity that involves moving your body counts as exercise on some level.  For example, I have known people who will go to the mall and walk around for 1 hour or so every other day and window shop.  Perhaps you'd like to walk around neighborhoods looking at houses.  These are activity and count as exercise.  Perhaps there is a sport that you would like to try, or an activity that just seems to be fun - even ping pong or something like that.  Get out there and do it.  Start with something.  If you increase your exercise doing something you enjoy you are much more likely to continue that activity.

2. Be active with a friend:   Another truth about human beings is that we are social creatures.  Find a friend or acquaintance that wants to be more active and create a time together doing something physical and use this as time to talk.  Check in about how your life is going.  Plan a party together.  Talk while you are active.  This is a great reward for the time you must spend exercising.

3. Start slowly:  Most people don't exercise because it seems like "too big of a deal."  Don't make it one.  Maybe you start really small with 10 minutes or less a day.  As you increase your activity level, you will feel the successes that come along with doing what you set out to do.  Start small.  Any activity is better than none.

4. Reward yourself:  Create a reward system for yourself to help you maintain your motivation.  This can be anything that you want.  Give yourself something to earn. For example, people often reward themselves with new clothes, a gadget, a movie date, a massage or pedicure or playing a game.  Instead of buying or doing that new item or treat now, tell yourself that when you have hit a total of X number of miles walked or can swim 2 laps without stopping, you'll enjoy whatever your goal is.  Make a plan that when you fulfill your activity plan every day for 1 week, you get your reward.  Or, try a daily incentive;  when I finish my activity, I will call my friend or do something enjoyable.    It might sound silly but it works.  I could not have completed all the work in graduate school without rewarding myself frequently.  I stayed focused and enjoyed the rewards I gave myself.   Try it, it works!

Hopefully these tips will help you motivate yourself.  I view activity as a critical part of our overall health, and specifically our mental health.  Remember, it takes about 2 weeks to form a habit, so if you can maintain an activity level for a few weeks, your reluctance will likely be reduced and you will be on your way.  

I enjoy hiking and walking several times on a weekly basis, and I go SCUBA diving when I can get to the water.  I find that my days go much better with activity and that I miss the activity in my body and mood when I skip it.  My relationships go better when I use some energy and I find it keeps me calm and relaxed.

Get out there and do it!!

Here are two good places to start to gather further information: