Motivating Movement: Benefits of Physical Activity

This Active Living article focuses on three major points:

• How “hard steps” and “soft steps” can help you lose weight and improve your health
• How to set SMART goals for becoming more active
• Why walking may be the best physical activity for you

Top Ten Reasons to Become More Active

Here are ten great benefits of becoming more physically active:

1. Better blood sugar control
2. Help in reaching and maintaining a healthy weight
3. Prevention of bone and muscle loss
4. Prevention or delay of diabetes complications
5. Greater flexibility
6. Improved endurance
7. Increased strength
8. Feeling more comfortable in your body
9. Reduced stress
10. Greater enjoyment of life

You can probably think of even more benefits, like looking better and being more fit. Just think of what will motivate you to get on your feet and become more active. Your health care team and the Diabetes Control for Life™ Program will support and advise you, but you are in charge.

If you’re thinking, “Wow, I want those benefits — I want to get started,” that’s great. Desire and enthusiasm make a great “launching platform” for your program.

First, consult with your doctor and diabetes health care team. Ask them to look over your physical activity plan. Your health care team can help you reach your health goals safely. This is especially important if you haven’t been active lately.

The first week of your physical activity plan is devoted to establishing your baseline. Continue with your usual activities for this week. Next, set SMART goals to gradually increase the number of soft steps and hard steps you take. Later, as you reach those goals, you can add other kinds of physical activity if you want.

SMART Goals

Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish?” “Have I set the right goals for me?” “How long should I take to reach these goals?” “How will I know when I’ve reached my goals?”

Experts say that the best goals are SMART goals. (Also see this week’s Well-being article on goal setting.) They are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Here are some examples:

Specific: “Each week I will increase the number of steps I take each day by 250” is more specific than “I will increase the amount of time I spend in everyday activities.”

Measurable: “I will increase my daily physical activity by walking an extra 30 minutes a day” is a measurable goal. “I will increase my daily physical activity” is not.

Attainable and Realistic: “I will increase my physical activity by 30 minutes a day by walking at lunch and walking my dog as soon as I get home from work” is a realistic goal. “I’ll go to the gym at 6:30 every morning before I go to work and walk the track for 30 minutes, then do sit-ups, then ...” is probably not realistic, at least at the start.

Time-bound: “I will add five minutes of walking time each week for four weeks so that I will be walking 30 minutes a day by the end of the month.” That’s a specific, measurable, attainable and realistic, time-bound goal. That’s SMART!

Walk About

Your physical activity plan doesn’t have to be high-tech or complex. Except for investing in a good pair of shoes, walking is free, takes no special skill or equipment, and can be adapted to your level of fitness and lifestyle more easily than other kinds of physical activity. If you’ve been to shopping malls lately, you’ve probably noticed that they’re popular spots for walkers, especially in bad weather. Mall walking is easy, convenient, climate-controlled, inexpensive — and popular. (But you may want to leave your wallet at home!)

A great strategy for knowing how many steps you take each day is to use a pedometer. You can find them in sports stores, grocery stores, and pharmacies, or online.

Pedometers sense your body motion and count your footsteps. This number is converted into distance using the length of your stride. To figure out the length of your stride, you can walk 10 steps, measure the distance, and divide by 10. Or you can use a standard setting of .67 m for women and .76 m for men. Some pedometers are preprogrammed with these standard settings. If you have a pedometer, follow the instructions that come with it.

You can buy a high-tech pedometer (some even “talk”). But all you need to get started is one that counts your steps and has these features:

• Wearability: A pedometer must be easy to use and comfortable enough to wear all day on your waistband.
• Readability: A pedometer’s display should be easy to read.

Your physical activity plan tells you to:

• Get a baseline. Wear your pedometer for seven days while you follow your daily routine. Record the number of steps you take each day. Reset the pedometer every morning. Figure out the average number of steps you take per day by adding your daily totals and dividing by seven.
• Set a goal to increase your physical activity based on your daily routine. Increase the number of daily steps you take by 250 each week.
• Keep track of and review your progress.

A SMART Goal for You

Eventually, your options for physical activity will be wide open. But right now, work on walking by increasing the number of soft steps and hard steps you take each week. An example of a SMART goal to accomplish this is, “I will increase my number of daily steps by 250 by parking further out in the parking lot.”

Write down your SMART goal.

Now look over your goal and make sure it’s SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. During the next week, keep track of the steps you take each day to reach this goal.

Summary

• Physical activity is key to obtaining many health benefits, including better blood sugar control, weight loss, and prevention or delay of diabetes complications.

• Create SMART goals that are:

  - Specific

  - Measurable

  - Attainable

  - Realistic

  - Time-bound

• Walking and measuring your progress with a pedometer are great ways to start.