Calling for a healthy lifestyle, doctors and fitness experts have always placed emphasis on specific benefits, such as weight loss, heart health, prevention of chronic diseases … It turns out that to get the trust of millions of people they just need to tell them they will feel better.
It is logical that a person will not talk about his or her achievements in the gym saying that weight training three times a week makes cholesterol levels acceptable and prevents diabetes! The phrase that will sound more understandable is “Sport gives me the excellent state of health and vigor!”
The scientists need to work on the new message for the people, who choose to pay attention to how they live. It is more effective to tell them that exercise, sleep and eating right means good health and energy on top of everything else. Michelle Segar, the lead author of the study, conducted at the University of Michigan, believes that proper motivation is the main thing. The bonuses, which Segar mentions, are the following: leading a healthy lifestyle, you become a more patient parent, you get satisfaction from your work, you do not quarrel with your partner, and in general your life gets more productive.
The study of the American scientists is based on statistics. To participate in the survey, they invited the women aged 40 to 60 years, who had been filling out special questionnaires. During the whole year, they were fixing the parameters of their health and physical activity. It was found that most of them appreciated such long-term goals as weight loss more than the short-term goals, like going to the gym for stress reduction. But success is attainable more often, when a person strives to reach short-term objectives. After putting ephemeral tasks to lose enough weight to change two sizes after three months, one can fail to lose even a pound.
Healthy aging is a very abstract idea. Hypothetically, a person can develop any disease. But to attend classes at the gym, eat right and get enough sleep to feel better is the problem you can solve quite easily. This can be practiced every day. Going to a fitness club and feeling better is a great motivation to go there tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
