When our hospital based, weight-loss clinic first opened, we asked new clients to fill out a questionnaire about the kind of physical activity they did. Included were activities such as carrying toddlers or their strollers up and down steps, bringing groceries into the house, walking or stair climbing as part of their job, and of course “regular” exercise (running, morning or evening walks, working with a trainer, etc). We also asked whether our clients would engage in a regular exercise routine if they were not concerned about losing weight.

We learned two important things: Most people overlooked the exercise they did as part of their daily life. One client worked in a law office spread over three floors of an office building. She climbed up and down the stairs several times a day to go to meetings, or speak with other lawyers or her clients. She overlooked this frequent form of physical activity because it “was just part of the job.” The second thing we learned was that the primary reason our clients would commit themselves to an exercise program was (no surprise here) to lose weight. Fitness, bone strength, improving their heart health, even decreasing the possibility of late-life memory loss, were regarded as unimportant reasons. “I will exercise if it gets my weight off faster” was the typical response on our questionnaire.

How can people be convinced that regular physical activity is something which should be part of their lives, regardless of whether weight loss is also on their agenda? Most fitness or obesity experts will say that it takes months, maybe even years, for new habits to develop. Consequently, a lot of positive “nagging” is necessary to get people to stick with an exercise routine. Many experts say that they don’t have much success in making this happen.

However. I think what is overlooked in getting people to put exercise into their lives as a given, as routine as brushing your teeth or paying the cell phone bill, is to point out that most of us do physical activity as part of our lives. And maybe the easiest way to start increasing exercise is to put more of it into our daily routines.

A mom whose 7-pound infant is now a hefty 28 pounds or more is obviously becoming more and more fit every time she bends down to pick up her child. Someone whose arms ache after raking the lawn or shoveling the driveway in early fall or winter is going to develop arm and back muscles by the time the last tree sheds its leaves or spring finally comes. I saw a sign in an office building announcing that the elevator is REALLY SLOW and recommending the stairs be taken instead. Climbing the stairs is hard if you don’t do it often but sooner rather than later, your legs become stronger, your breathing easier and eventually you do it faster and with less effort.

Many years ago my husband and I lived in a part of Switzerland at the edge of the hills that eventually become the Alps. All the shops were dotted along a very steep hill, and I had to climb up and down them to do my food shopping. And, as our kitchen refrigerator was more suitable to a dollhouse than an apartment, I shopped very often. One day, soon after our arrival, I watched in amazement as an old woman climbed up the hill carrying two sacks filled with large glass bottles of water. I was puffing and panting after my short climb without any groceries in my hand. But, within a few weeks, I could do the climb without my breath coming in gasps and my hands feeling as if they would fall off from the weight of my bundles. Looking back on that time, I realized that I was doing the equivalent of stair climbing in a gym with heavy weights in my hand. Would I have done that in a gym? I doubt it. But in Switzerland, I did it or we would have had an empty refrigerator. 

So maybe one answer to the exercise question is that in many cases, it is the only way we can get through life. And if we take on the challenge (or perhaps can’t avoid it) of increasing the intensity or duration of our daily physical activities, we will emerge the healthier for it.

A neighbor who recently moved from a house in the suburbs to an apartment in the city told me that she is much healthier now. “My bone density has improved, as has my resting heart rate,” she related. When I asked her how this came about, she told me that she has to walk all the time. “If I take my car to get groceries, it takes longer with traffic and parking than if I walk. And the cost of parking the car is about half the cost of my food. So I walk and lug home what I need. Also, we live on the 3^rd floor and although there is an elevator, it is really old and slow. So I walk up the steps.  We have a dog and no backyard. So I walk even more. After we first moved, I would lie in bed at night and my legs would ache from all my exercise. But now I never notice it. I am really stronger.“ 

   There is an old expression which I probably heard first from my grandmother, which was, “ Live and be well.” It is the “be well” that we have to work on. If exercise is part of the living, you will be well.

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