Tara’s posts are great. They feature the benefits of exercise from many different angles!
Here’s another example of research that showcases the incredible benefits of exercise. To me, an exercise motivation researcher and probably to the others who read Tara’s column, this finding is COMPELLING!
Yet, the vast majority of Americans are not physically active regularly.
It’s time for those of us who exercise and promote exercise, and the media who feature it, to do a better job of telling Americans the MOST important message. It’s the following quote:
Dr. Tarnopolsky said, “anything is better than nothing.” If you haven’t been active in the past, he continued, start walking five minutes a day, then begin to increase your activity level.
In my 17 years of researching why individuals don’t stay motivated to exercise and how to turn this around, the comments above offer a core part of the solution.
His advice, at the end of Tara’s post, might be the easiest and cheapest way to get our citizens moving more!
If the powers that be were to create a social marketing campaign around these wise words: “Anything is better than nothing” we’d offer Americans a better way to start on their path to life-long physical activity participation.
I welcome your thoughts, reactions, and critiques to my ideas!