When interviewed about what we want out of life, most of us put “happiness” near the top of our lists.

But what types of things actually make us feel happy?

Scientific evidence is mounting – that moving our bodies changes our brains in ways that can lead to happiness.

In fact, it turns out that moving our bodies is one of the best ways to foster a chemical reaction that leads to happiness.

I recently watched the mood-lifting documentary happy and want to tell you a bit about it.

Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Neuroeconomics at Emory University, was one of two neuroscientists that were interviewed for this film. They discussed the neuroscience related to increasing happiness in our lives.

They explained that dopamine, a chemical in the brain (i.e., neurotransmitter), is necessary for us to feel pleasure and happiness.

According to Berns, we can foster the release of dopamine in our brains by doing certain things.

He noted that physical activity is one of the best ways to release dopamine. “Aerobic exercise is probably one of the best releasers of dopamine”, said Berns.

Does it make you feel differently about moving your body to learn that science shows physical activity is a great way to help lift your mood and feel happier?

You are the only person who can decide WHY to move your body – how about choosing to move for reasons that help you feel happier and live better every day?

This is such an essential concept – that I have a keynote called Moving Toward Happiness™ – One Step At a Time to inspire people to develop a new and much deeper and motivating relationship with exercise and moving.

If you have any experiences with physical movement promoting happy feelings in your own life please share them here! I will personally respond to your comments.

While on the topic of happiness, I want to share how happy and honored I was to be invited by Pedro Teixeira, to speak at two events in March about motivating sustainable exercise and healthy living in Lisbon, Portugal. Dr. Teixeira is a renowned motivation and behavioral researcher whose work I have admired for years.

To see my latest quotes in the media go to Self Magazine (March issue), and for those of you who read Portuguese, see my feature interview in Publico (a leading Portuguese newspaper).

Moving Toward Happiness – One Step At a Time,

Michelle

PS. If you want to learn more about the incredible ways that exercise effects the brain check out SPARK by Dr. John Ratey, the leading expert on this topic.

What if we stopped thinking about moving our bodies as something we “should” do and started thinking about it as a better source of energy and well-being than drinking a latte ?

The idea that we should value physical movement in this way is gaining momentum.

Our latest research findings about rebranding exercise for its immediate benefits was recently featured by US News & World Report and Fitness Magazine. This message was also warmly received by a packed room of women and clinicians attending a keynote I delivered last month in Wyoming.

In fact, there’s new research showing that physical movement is associated with higher energy and enthusiasm.

A published study in the Journal of Exercise and Sport Psychology investigated the “feel good” effects from physical activity among190 young adults, 66% of whom were women. The study participants were asked to note their daily physical activity, sleep, and feeling states and return this information at the end of each day for eight days.

They reported that physical activity was associated with increased feelings of energy and enthusiasm. The study also found that these college-aged participants felt even more enthusiastic on the days that they moved their bodies more.

Energy and enthusiasm remained significant even after taking sleep quality into account. This demonstrates that when a bad night’s sleep leaves us feeling exhausted, we can boost our energy level that day by moving our bodies.

These findings have proven accurate in my own life. Last fall I was extremely busy. I didn’t walk as much as usual. Since January, I’ve increased my time walking and I feel more energetic.

If you haven’t paid attention to how you feel even after a short duration of physical movement – try it a few times. Many of my clients are surprised by how a little bit of physicality goes a long way toward vitality.

Want more energy and enthusiasm during your day? Instead of heading to the nearest Starbucks, put your work down, grab a friend or colleague, and take a 15-minute walk. (You’ll save money too.)

Please tell any friends, family, colleagues, or health care professionals who might be interested in these insights on creating lasting motivation and behavior through the social media and email icons below.

If you have any experiences with physical activity boosting your mood or energy level please share them on my blog! I will personally respond to your comment.

Moving toward Happiness,

Michelle

As women, we have all heard about kegels. We know we “should” do them, but why?! And how? Can kegels really help?

Why kegels matter: Pelvic floor dysfunction including weakness and poor coordination can lead to issues such as loss of bladder control and pelvic organ prolapse. Did you know that 47% of women between the ages of 20-49 have experienced urinary incontinence(1)? Leakage is not confined to the elderly! Have you ever heard the following line: “I laughed so hard that tears ran down my legs?” Amusing? Yes… But incontinence is very treatable – so let’s get serious about improving this area of our lives if it bothers us!

Learning how to properly contract and relax your pelvic floor muscles – how to do kegels – will help you gain strength, endurance, and coordination of the pelvic floor muscles, which will keep you in control of your bodily functions as you age. Want some of that?!

Control = Confidence, and confidence is hugely connected to quality of life: If you don’t pee when you laugh, you might feel more comfortable socially. If you don’t leak when you exercise, you might be more likely to head outside for a walk. If you can hold your bladder long enough to make it to the store and back, any anxiety you might have about knowing every rest stop en route and in the shopping center should greatly decrease.

So you’re excited about improving your pelvic floor strength, coordination, and endurance… Now how do you do it? Take a moment to practice right now.

Lie on your back or on your side. Lying down takes gravity out of the picture and gives your pelvic floor muscles the greatest advantage for a strong contraction. Visualize your pelvic floor muscles. They sit at the base of your pelvis and surround your vagina and your anus. Try to squeeze and lift these muscles toward your head. Imagine that you’re using these muscles to pull a marble into your vagina. I know, I know… It sounds strange. But this visualization works. Now relax the muscles and imagine that you’re letting the marble roll out. You just completed a kegel! Do another kegel, but this time hold the contraction for 5-8 seconds before relaxing. Complete 5 to 10 repetitions. These “slow hold” kegels are great for increasing strength and endurance of the pelvic floor muscles. This is important for preventing incontinence and prolapse, and – bonus – can amp up your sex life as well.

Kegels are the “gold standard” when it comes to pelvic floor strengthening, but there are thousands (hundreds of thousands!) of exercises that contribute to pelvic floor health and fitness. Every time you use your hip rotators or your inner thigh muscles, you are helping to activate the pelvic floor. This means that dance, roller skating, Pilates, yoga – even simply walking – are all fantastic pelvic floor strengtheners!

Set yourself up for success. Let’s face it: Kegels are boring. Participants in pelvic floor strengthening programs make great strides toward controlling or improving incontinence while completing kegels on a daily (or even every-other-day) basis, but after they discharge from the program they tend to stray from their kegel routine. You know the old adage, “use it or lose it…” Well, it’s true. Women who stray from a consistent kegel routine usually revert back to their former levels of incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction.

You get out what you put in… So make kegels fun! Here are a few suggestions:

~Insert a set of kegels into your regular fitness routine. Every time you lie down to do your abdominal work at the gym, slip in a few kegels.

~Do kegels to music! Hold the contraction during slow, melodic parts of a song to work on endurance. Complete quick contractions (i.e. squeeze, release, squeeze, release) when the song has a driving beat.

~Connect your kegels with a daily task such as blow drying your hair or brushing your teeth.

Another strategy that helps when dealing with any tedious (read: forgettable) task is to purchase a pack of small dot stickers and place them in various locations that you look at or notice on a regular basis. For example, stick a dot on your bathroom mirror to remind you to do a kegel (or two) when you first wake up, another on your computer screen to remind you when you get to your office, and another on your refrigerator to remind you when you are in the kitchen.

As females, we should not ignore our pelvic floor fitness. While they are not “glamour muscles” like six-pack abs and bulging biceps, the pelvic floor muscles should not be a source of shame or embarrassment. We need to talk about the deep core muscles – particularly the pelvic floor – with our daughters, our mothers, and our friends. We need to make sure our fitness instructors are aware of the inner core muscles and the importance of activating them regularly and effectively.

Who’s ready to join me for some kegels right now? I’m doing my kegels… Are you?

Your turn: Do you do kegels or other pelvic floor-specific strengthening exercises? How do you incorporate pelvic floor fitness into your daily (or weekly) routine? Please post in the comments below!

1: Culligan P, Heit M (2000). Urinary incontinence in women: evaluation and management. Am Fam Physician, 62(11), 2433-2444. (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2000/1201/p2433.html)

Brianne Grogan, DPT, is a women’s health physical therapist, an AFAA certified group fitness instructor, and the founder of FemFusion Fitness™. Originally from Oregon, she currently lives in the Rhineland-Pfalz region of Germany with her husband and son where she teaches FemFusion group fitness classes in her local community and on U.S. military installations. Brianne is preparing to release her first book, titled FemFusion Fitness for Intimacy. For more information about Brianne, FemFusion Fitness, or FemFusion Fitness for Intimacy, please visit www.femfusionfitness.com or email her at brianne@femfusionfitness.com.

We’ve been wrongly taught that exercising at high intensities is the “best” way to exercise.

There is a growing body of research showing that all physical movement counts, even lower level activities like gardening and walking.

High intensity level exercise prescriptions are often focused on improving cardiovascular health. Yet, if we don’t like what high intensity exercise feels like, we likely won’t continue.

Regular physical activity offers many more benefits than just helping our heart. Lifted mood and better mental health are just two of many other benefits – but they are very important ones – especially for women.

There is actually research showing that higher intensity exercise worsens mood in midlife women. Other research has shown that lower intensity physical activity, compared to higher intensity activity, resulted in better mood and mental health in women, but not men.

It is important that we give ourselves permission to move in ways that both feel good and work for us – this is a key ingredient to staying motivated. And we can enjoy life more when we live it on our terms not those prescribed by others.

Walking at a pace that feels good is a great way to exercise. But, most types of movement contribute to being healthier and happier. So, look for as many opportunities to move as you can in your daily life. Then notice as your level increases whether you feel differently – more energy? better mood? etc.

Please tell any friends, family, colleagues, or health care professionals that you think would be interested in this insights on crating lasting motivation and self-care behavior through the social media and email icons below.

Directly below is one of the questions they asked and my answer.

What is your favorite healthy living tip?

Goal clout gives self-care behaviors influence in our daily lives, so they trump the things that have tended to get in the way of taking good care of ourselves.

Want some of that?

I created the ‘goal clout’ concept to help women understand an essential aspect of sustaining self-care behavior, so that this year, your New Years’ resolutions will have more influence in your life and stick for good.

We rush around nonstop, scrambling to accomplish things – aiming to get the most urgent things done every day.  Our hectic and overcommitted lives make it VERY DIFFICULT to take good care of ourselves.

The pressured pace of our society influences us all. Even self-care and exercise professionals, like me, are constantly challenged to keep up our own self-care behaviors. Why should anyone be immune to this challenge?

Everyone has repeatedly tried to make lifestyle changes to take better care of themselves. Yet, when life takes an unexpected turn or our kids get sick most of us don’t maintain self-care behaviors.

So, what differentiates women who successfully stay active, eat well, and/or meditate regularly and those who do not?

It’s goal clout.

Goal clout is about a behavioral goal being so crucial to our daily effectiveness and functioning that we keep it as one of our top daily priorities.

Goal clout is directly connected to our main reason(s) for participating in a self-care behavior.

If you know that eating well during the midday gives you increased energy during the afternoon and helps you enjoy work more, that’s a pretty compelling reason to make sure you regularly meet that goal.  Thus, eating well in order to “have energy all afternoon” has goal clout.

When a behavioral goal has “clout” it feels deeply compelling to fit in, even when it competes with other important items on our “to do” lists.

While a self-care behavior might replace something else “important” on a given day, the full return on the self-care behavior (happiness, energy, focus, patience, pride, self-worth) usually far outweighs the benefits from checking off one more item on our “to do” list.

Here’s an example of why Sandy’s physical activity behavior has goal clout. Sandy moves regularly because she knows that movement immediately reduces stress and improves her mood. These enhancements, in turn, make her more effective at work and she feels that she is more patient and loving to her family.

So, when Sandy moves, she knows she is going to enjoy living her life more. She also knows that when she lets other responsibilities replace her planned movement, she feels worse, has less energy, and doesn’t function as well in any of her roles and responsibilities.

Can you see why daily movement has goal clout for Sandy? The purpose for movement is tied to her living more happily and effectively!

Our self-care goals WILL ALWAYS compete with many other goals, priorities, and responsibilities.

So, unless the purpose for our self-care behavior is specifically tied to helping us be more effective in our daily roles and responsibilities and lead to experiences that fuel energy, well-being, joy, and self-worth it won’t have goal clout. It also won’t be very compelling to maintain when life gets complicated – as it always does.

In preparation for your 2012 New Years’ resolutions, as you consider the way in which you want to take better care of yourself, consider whether your behavioral goals or planned lifestyle changes actually achieve goal clout.  (Please remember, I recommend only changing one behavior at a time because research shows our resources for willpower and self-control are limited.)

Purposefully creating behavioral goals that will have clout in the New Year is simply a smarter strategy.

It’s also simple to do.  Make sure the reason/purpose for your lifestyle change reflect enhancing the quality of your life in very real, noticeable ways. (This means your New Years’ resolutions will reflect the concrete ways lifestyle changes will improve your daily life instead of focusing on changing numbers on a scale.)

By the way, these ideas are in line with the prevention message our Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is actively promoting to Americans. She proposes that we view health and health behaviors as a way to joy. See her TEDMED talk.

I’m honored to be featured in two places this month: on WebMD and the American Association of University Women.

Please tell any friend, family, colleagues, or health care professionals that you think would be interested in these insights on crafting lasting motivation and self-care behavior through the social media and email icons below.

I’m so glad you decided to take my new class this past Fall. At the beginning of our term I was so excited about this new course to teach young women how to design lives and make decisions that are more likely to lead to health and well-being that I blogged about it in September in Martha Stewart’s Wholeliving.com magazine.

I was not disappointed – despite having very high expectations.

Thank you for making this Fall term so stimulating and enjoyable.  You participated in the important questions of “WHY” we should care about our well-being and health and “HOW” to make our self-care a priority, and HOW to actively prevent things that have the potential stand between us and daily well-being.

This course asked you to think intellectually about the research on the gender-specific barriers to the five aspects of well-being (as defined by Gallup: Social, Community, Physical, Career, and Financial). But it also pushed you to dig deep into your own psyche and become aware of what matters most to you and what  beliefs you hold that need to be changed so you may move forward toward achieving global well-being and true fulfillment.

Thank you for your frank feedback about how I could improve my teaching and this course. While I can’t do much about my messy handwriting at the age of 45, I defiantly can include more  discussion the next time around!

May you create your life mindfully, and discover your Purpose, and own the choices necessary to to live it.

I asked you to rename the class based on your experience  over the term, but didn’t give you much time to think. I thought you’d be interested in seeing some of the cool names that everyone came up with (anonymously):

• Living with Purpose: Doing your best, and feeling connected
• Attaining Well-being Despite Societal and Personal Barriers
• Me, Myself, and I: the five elements of personal well-being
• Lifetime Well-being: how to take control over your total well-being
• How to Live a Happy Life through Well-being, Goals and Motivation
• Learning Outside of the Ivory Tower: health and well-being across the lifespan
• Well-being: how women seek health and well-being through the years and the obstacles they overcome
• Women’s Health and Well-being: past, present and future
• Health and Well-being: a new approach to learning to thrive
• Well-being: The bio-psycho-social of the five aspects of well-being

Reading these names showed me how well all of you got the core concepts and competencies. Thanks for being so invested in this material and your own process.

Above all else, effort to remember to honor yourSELF and who you are when the world tries to persuade you otherwise.  Forging a unique path may not be easy, but if you stay true to who you are and learn from your mistakes, it will unfold in front of you.

Please stay in touch as you live your lives….

Warmly,

Michelle

So many of us have tried to exercise, tried to diet, tried to lose weight, without ever achieving results that last.

So, we feel like failures.

Many of us have come to the conclusion after 25+ years of trying and failing, numerous time, that we should give up this exhausting and negative pursuit.

We wonder whether we are simply “too lazy,” “too busy,” “don’t have the body,” or “not the type”? Have you ever asked yourself those questions?

I hope you’ll give me a few moments of your time to read my post below explaining the reasons why it’s not your fault and EveryBODY is the type!

Hi, my name is Michelle Segar. I’m a motivation psychologist, researcher, women’s coach and speaker. I am also the Associate Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center or Women and Girls at the University of Michigan.

I’m writing this post in response to Leah Segedie’s (AKA momivation), a real promoter of physical activity and self-care for women, call for bloggers to write about how fitness and health can be extended to everyone.

I’ve been researching women, motivation, exercise, and self-care, and working directly with women and behavioral professionals/clinicians about these issue for almost 20 years.

The first thing I want to tell you is that we have learned an approach to exercise, dietary changes, and weight control that LEAD TO FAILURE.

The approach that we have learned– to change our behavior and take care of ourselves– in general comes out of a “deficit” model.

It focuses us on the negative parts of ourselves and teaches us to initiate behavior change as a way to get rid of our “faults” and “imperfections” (a primary one being “excess” weight.)

This approach, however, leads us to feel bad about ourselves. As you probably know by now, initiating a behavior change out of negative feelings about ourselves doesn’t lead to the long-term positive outcomes we yearn for.

We’ve also been socialized to adopt health behaviors like exercise to achieve certain things, usually with emphasizing benefits like “losing weight” and other health-related outcomes like “preventing disease.”

Yet, my research and the research of others suggest these types of reasons, while logical and important, they don’t make behavior desirable or compelling.

In fact, adopting a lifestyle change out of these reasons puts pressure on us. They lead us to feel that these behaviors are “chores” to accomplish instead of “gifts” we can give ourselves. Know what I mean?

This completely undermines our motivation!

These reasons promote feelings of shame and self-loathing. They lead us to rebel against feeling controlled! Not surprisingly, we eventually we quit.

I call these types of reasons for change “The Wrong Why.”

When we start exercise with The Wrong Why, it leads to cyclical, not sustainable, behavior.

See below to understand how The Wrong Why leads to The Vicious Cycle of Failure. (Start reading the graphic at 11:00pm below)

The Vicious Cycle of Failure

Because The Vicious Cycle of Failure is the only model we’ve been taught, we’ve been stuck repeating it for 10, 20, or even 30+ years!

Luckily, escaping The Vicious Cycle of Failure is actually quite simple. If you are interested in learning what you need to do…keep reading.

CHANGE YOUR WHY

You can create high-quality motivation and lasting change by going to the origin of making a lifestyle change: Your reason for initiating it!

You already read about how starting with The Wrong Why keeps you stuck. My research suggests that if you can reject The Wrong Why and mindfully choose reasons for change (e.g., select “Your Whys”) you’ll discover that motivation and well-being wells up inside of you.

Working with women, some thin, some heavy, some very heavy, some healthy, some living with illnesses, yet all very different, I’ve found a solution that works when it comes to staying consistently physically active and feeling better about oneself:

Use daily movement to:

• celebrate yourself
• improve your mood
• get more energy
• reduce your stress
• be a better parent
• enjoy your work more
• take better care of yourself
• live according to your core values

Here’s the kicker: When you move and experience these things above… you create a domino effect on the rest of your day and life…having less stress and feeling happier improves all of the other important aspects of your daily life (parenting, working, being a spouse/partner/friend, etc.)

Starting these Whys, ones that you affirm yourself and your life, fosters the highest quality motivation that exists! So, change your “Why” to be celebratory and self-affirming. You’ll improve your daily quality of life and you’ll discover that, this time, your motivation sticks around.

EveryBODY shape size color will feel better by moving more everDAY.

I urge you to toss out the negative messages you’ve learned about your body and movement. They only get in your way. You CAN start anew, with a new model, right now!

EveryBODY, all of us, deserves to renew and nourish ourselves through movement, everyday .

EveryBODY. EveryDAY.

It’s time for women to get strategic about our own self-care! Check out my Smart Path to Lasting Change.

In fact, if you feel moved (sorry about the pun) and want to commit to yourself right now, check out Pledge20. Pledge20 was started by a woman, Sheryl Lynn, who discovered that when she moved for 20 minutes per day, the increased energy and joy she felt helped improve every other aspect of her life. She started Pledge20 to give other women an opportunity to commit to moving for 20 minutes per day, in any and all ways, to better take care of ourselves so we can enjoy every day more.

If my ideas resonate with you and you’d like my continued support in your process, sign up for my free monthly eNewsletter.

Please tell others who you think would be interested my research-based perspective through using the social media and email icons below.

Next post, I’ll describe how to change your “HOW” to escape The Vicious Cycle of Failure for good!

I created the goal clout concept to help women understand an essential aspect of sustaining self-care behaviors.

We rush around nonstop, scrambling to accomplish things – aiming to get the most urgent things done every day.  The reality of our hectic and over committed life is that it is VERY DIFFICULT to take care of ourselves well…right?

In fact, even self-care and exercise professionals, like me, are constantly challenged to keep up our own self-care behaviors. Why should anyone be immune to this challenge?  The pressured pace of our society influences us all.

Virtually everyone has tried to make lifestyle changes to take better care of ourselves many, man, many times. Yet, when life takes an unexpected turn or our kids get sick most of us don’t keep these self-care behaviors up.

So, what differentiates women who successfully stay active, eat well, and/or meditate regularly and those who do not?

It’s goal clout.

Goal clout is about a behavioral goal being so crucial to our daily effectiveness and functioning that it consistently influences our daily priorities. Goal clout gives your self-care behavior influence over your daily priorities so your self-care is no longer trumped by less essential “to dos”.

If you know that eating well during the midday gives you more energy for the afternoon, that’s a pretty compelling reason to make sure you meet that goal regularly.  Thus, eating well “so I have more energy all afternoon” gives eating well goal clout. Having goal clout means you decided to 5-10 minutes to make yourself a healthy lunch the night before work because eating well may enhance your next day more than finishing the laundry.

Goal clout is directly connected to our reason(s) for participating in a self-care behavior.

Here’s an example of why Sandy’s physical activity behavior has goal clout. Sandy moves regularly because her reason for doing it is that movement immediately reduces stress and improves her mood. These enhancements, in turn, make her more effective at work and she feels that she is more patient and loving to her family. This self-care activity has a domino effect on the rest of her lifel

So, when Sandy moves, she knows she is going to enjoy living her life more, in the moment. She also knows that on the days she lets other responsibilities trump her desired movement, she feels worse, has less energy, and doesn’t function as well in any of her roles and responsibilities.

Can you see why daily movement has goal clout for Sandy? It’s purpose is tied to living happier and more effectively!

Our self-care goals WILL ALWAYS compete with many other goals, priorities, and responsibilities. Everything thing we do on a daily basis is based on either a conscious or unconscious decision.

So, unless the purpose for our self-care behavior is to help us be more effective in our daily roles and responsibilities and leads to experiences that fuel energy, well-being and self-worth they can’t have goal clout. Without goal clout our motivation fades when life gets complicated.

When a behavioral goal has “clout” it feels deeply compelling to fit in and even trumps other important items on our “to do” lists. While a self-care behavior might replace something else “important” on a given day, the full return on the self-care behavior (happiness, energy, focus, patience, pride, self-worth) usually far outweighs the benefits from checking off one more item on our “to do” list.

Creating behavioral goals that have clout is a smarter strategy. But it’s not based on the luck of the draw. You have to decide you want it.

If you want to learn the steps to achieve goal clout for your self-care behaviors and a top ROI on your self-care time, stay tuned

Please tell others who would be interested in these ideas about motivation and behavior through using the social media and email icons below.

My colleagues and I at the University of Michigan recently published an eye-opening study on midlife women.  It showed that the health benefits we’ve been taught to strive to achieve through exercising might not be powerful enough to deliver the health outcomes we desire.

We collected data over one year from 226 women who worked full time. Respondents were asked about their exercise goals and participation, how much they valued their goals, body mass index (BMI) and social support.

Our study found that women reported valuing exercise benefits related to “current health,” “healthy aging,” and “daily quality of life” the same amount.

But the women who exercised to enhance the quality of their daily life exercised more over one year than the other two groups.

The study showed a few key things: What we say is important does not necessarily translate into behavior. Sure we’ve been socialized that we should want to be healthy, and that exercising is a great way to achieve better health. Most of us would say we highly value good health.

But here’s the rub. Health and healthy aging are benefits from exercise we might never notice and might not even achieve them for 10-20 years.

How compelling do these far off benefits make exercise to fit into your busy life TODAY? Unless you don’t work and have a lot of leisure time, many women won’t stay motivated to exercise with far off benefits as the reward.

This highlights the large gap between what we consider “important” and what is “compelling” enough to fit into our busy days. If health doesn’t motivate us to exercise regularly, then we won’t get the resulting health benefits regulation participation brings!

In contrast to health, we discovered that benefits from exercise that are immediately experienced, like reduced stress and improved mood and energy, transform exercise into a very compelling activity to fit in.

Oprah figured this out too. Her marketing team understood that health isn’t as relevant to women’s daily lives as feeling good. In 2010, they changed the name of their “health column” in O Magazine to “Feeling Good” to reflect this insight.

Our new research was picked up by a health care economist. She reported that our findings are completely in line with the “hot off the press” 2011 Edelman Health Barometer (EHB) research.

The Department of Health and Human Services also featured our thought-provoking research in a podcast, here.

Consider this: When you reduce your stress, get more energy and lift your mood from being physically active all of your other roles and responsibilities benefit as well! Downstream benefits include, being a more patient parent, being creative and focused at work, enjoying your spouse instead of being irritated. Can you see how these types of meaningful benefits make exercise more relevant to fit in?

Exercising for health is logical, but people’s daily decisions are more often connected to emotion than logic. If the goal is to sustain physically lives throughout life than we have to take stock and assess how motivating our reasons for being active truly are.

The great news is that we can change our reasons for exercising easily and discover the well of authentic motivation that resides inside of you. I do this all of the time with my clients.

I recommend five steps to rebrand exercise FOR YOURSELF and improve your motivation and desire to stick with it:

1. Assess the specific benefits you have been striving to achieve, in general, from exercising. (Most say “weight loss”)

2. Ask yourself: How effective have these reasons been? Do they lead me to stay motivated?

3. Ask yourself, what values and experiences YOU most care about achieving in your daily life that exercise benefits would impact, such as reduced stress and improved mood. (How would impacting those things impact other areas you care deeply about?)

4. Give yourself permission to change your reasons for exercising to ones that connect to YOUR core values and life goals.

5. Stop following prescriptive advice. “One size does not fit all” when it comes to exercise or our reasons for exercising.   You have to make it meaningful FOR YOU if you hope to keep it up.

You can read the full study, Rebranding Exercise: Closing the gap between values and behavior, here.

You canr listen to a two-minute podcast summarizing this new research.

Please tell others that you think would be interested in this counterintuitive research on women’s exercise motivation and behavior through the social media and email icons below.