Make your health your top priority
Exercise with a friend, sign up for an event: creative ways to enforce that New Year's resolution
The southern end of the Noyo Headlands Coastal trail is a straight shot down Cypress Street from the Cancer Resource Centers’ Fort Bragg office. I have no excuse not to change into my jogging shoes after work and go for a brisk walk before I head home; yet, I can always find one: It’s raining! It’s cold! It’s dark! January is a difficult month to stay on track with an exercise program.
But a recent report from the Journal of Clinical Oncology gives me one more good reason to make exercise a higher priority in my life. Researchers have found that regular exercise is linked to a reduced risk of seven different types of cancer: bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, renal, gastric and esophageal.
The report recommends that healthy adults aim for 2.5 to 5 hours of moderately intense activity per week, such as brisk walking, jogging or gardening.
There are many good reasons besides lowering my cancer risk to exercise regularly: I will feel better, reduce my risk of heart attack and diabetes, and improve my energy, strength and flexibility.
I accept all of the scientific findings that I will be healthier if I exercise regularly. I know from past experience that I feel better when I am fit. And I know that getting outside, even for a 30-minute walk, will improve my mood. I want, and need, to make exercise a higher priority, but life is busy and other tasks get in the way.
Making exercise a higher priority and finding ways to hold myself accountable are the two best ways I have found to keep up with exercise goals. Giving exercise a higher priority means letting go of less important things I do in order to make the time available in my day.
Scheduling exercise on my planner, the way I would a dentist appointment or a committee meeting, is what it takes to remind me that this is something I must do. Holding myself accountable means finding a friend to walk with and making walking dates, or signing up for a class, which requires me to show up at a certain time and place.
In 2017, I walked in the Avon-39 Breast Cancer Crusade with a group of eight other local women. This was a two-day walk in San Francisco that covered 39 miles total: 26 miles the first day and 13 miles the next. With five months to get ready to walk a marathon-and-ahalf over a two- day span,
I had both the motivation and the accountability I
needed to get in shape. I walked and walked, all over town, up hills and in the hills, with friends and alone, listening to podcasts and in the silence. I was determined not to make use of the sag wagon.
The experience taught me that even when you think you are in pretty good shape, there is huge room for improvement. Every member of our team finished the walk, raised money for the Cancer Resource Centers, and has lifetime memories from the experience.
The days are lengthening, the whales are on their way back, and Daylight Savings Time returns March 8. I am resolving, publicly and in print, to make at least weekly use of the Coastal Trail, for my health. Did I mention the See’s candy is finally gone from the office break room? See you on the trail.
The Cancer Resource Centers’ Cancer Awareness and Prevention series is sponsored by CRC in collaboration with the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency. This information is presented for educational purposes and is not intended to replace the advice of your health care provider. The Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County is a grassroots organization serving our communities since 1995 by providing information, advocacy, and support services free of charge.