Being physically active is one of the most important ways to improve health. According to the Harvard School of Public Health there has been a decline in physical activity that has contributed to the global obesity epidemic and lead to rising rates of chronic disease. The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans outlines that most health benefits occur with two and a half hours of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity each week.

For as long as I can remember my favorite way to move was to walk! I would play with my friends and siblings in our back yard, the White School playground or Glen Oak Park. We shot hoops in the driveway, played kickball and rode our bikes. My family would vacation at a small cabin in a rural area near numerous small lakes. In the summer, we would run through the woods, catch grasshoppers, frogs, and fireflies and fish and swim in the lakes. We had so much fun playing physically we did not realize how much exercise we were getting.  As an adult, I love to walk, hike, bike and ski with my family in the great outdoors.

Choosing activities that you love can lead to establishing moving/exercise as part of your natural daily routines.