EXERCISE

As a kid, most of my play involved running- tag, capture the flag, hide and seek, etc. Now, I have to make sure I take time for exercise otherwise my daily schedule will rule my life and keep me chained to a desk, chair, or computer screen. I love running. It is simple, pure, utterly natural, can be done anywhere/ anytime, and requires no special equipment. Seriously. None. Although I don’t advise it, you can run perfectly well naked. You don’t need to teach a kid to run; it comes naturally. Nearly everyone can run. If, for any

“The single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise.

–Frank Hu,

epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health

Sleep

reason, you can’t, then walk, or swim, or cycle. Here’s the thing: do something. Our bodies weren’t meant to be sedentary. Everything about the way we are built screams, “MOVE!”. For me to keep running, and enjoy it, I have to do other things too. I swim a little, bike a little, and work out at the gym a couple of times a week. No time to exercise you say? I promise, in today’s busy world, if you don’t make the time, it won’t just be there. When you have fallen on the ground and are stuck there like an overturned turtle because you do not have the strength to get up, it will be too late. I feel my best, am in a better mood, and am most productive when I feel fit.

thing: do Our bodies weren’tmeanttobesedentary.

If there was one thing I took for granted from childhood through college was that I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat and sleep for 8-10 hours unless an alarm woke me. Now, a night’s sleep without at least one interruption because of the need to empty my bladder is a rare pleasure. Some night’s it’s twice. Six hours, heck, four hours of uninterrupted sleep is a gift. I have learned that I have to force myself to get to bed at a decent hour as I am a night owl by nature. I have learned to keep the room cold, cover all LED lights, and use a firm, comfortable mattress with a good quality pillow that supports my neck. No TV watching at bedtime. With my busy schedule, I still find that I build up a sleep deficit over the course of a week so I love a one hour Sunday midafternoon nap. It refreshes me without making me feel drugged. I don’t take sleep for granted.