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As we move through the gears of project:WELLBEING, our 8 week immersion into sustainable habitual change, one habit has always been constant. Natural Movement.
What do we mean by natural movement? This forms a huge part of the power 9 blue zones research:
"The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it"
Thus a challenge we have issued during project:WELLBEING is to move for 30 mins in your natural environment. But we also want to issue this challenge to ALL Kiwis!
Our sedentary, inactive lifestyles have led us to becoming the third most obese nation in the world. Yep you hear that right. In 2010 alone, the cost of inactivity was estimated at over 1.1 billion dollars, and 0.7% of our GDP. A simply massive, unsustainable strain on our country.
Too often we drive where we could walk, we take the elevators over stairs, we prioritise convenience over health. So we encourage you to take this on, imagine the effect on our health system if the "team of 5 million" could add 30 minutes of movement into their daily lives. Huge.
Let's breakdown some more of how you can improve natural movement. This about your everyday life… Where you could accumulate 30 mins movement per day? 5 mins here, 5 mins there. By doing this we remove the “chore” element of it, it's no longer something we have to think about, because we do it naturally and sustainably.
How about walking the kids to school, walking the dog? Catching public transport to work - walk the last 3 stops? How is the garden looking? Can we walk to shops? Can we bike to the gym or even better bike to work? Play sports with our kids, go for a swim or surf! The options really are endless.
And the cherry on the top? Think about the improvements in your mental wellbeing that will arise as a result of movement, for movement heals
Let's get moving NZ!
Jimmy August - Founder of ReDefined Health Wellbeing Movement
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