UNITED STATES—I really can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll be honest, I am SO GLAD I am realizing this. I recently had a day off from my busy work schedule and as a result I literally stayed in bed all day and watched TV. My body was aching from physical labor from work where I had a strained leg muscle and muscle spasms that literally took me out for 24 hours people.
Do I think its ok to sit on the couch after a crazy week of work and being stressed on top of stress? Yeah, but those 24 hours I sat laying on the couch, I asked myself, I could have been productive doing so much more. I could have really overhauled my closet, shredded old mail, organized clothing, cleaned, donated old stuff, wrote out bills, landscape work, the list goes on and on.
When you sit on the couch for extended periods of time it just makes you feel a bit bad about yourself. Well maybe not all Americans, but that is how I felt after the day. So much to the point that the next day I wanted to exercise, I wanted to be busy; I wanted to feel as if I was doing something useful; something important, something that mattered in my life. So where is all this coming from? America, I truly don’t know. I wish I had the answer, I wish I could tell you, I just think it is the realization that sometimes we just sit around too much and need to have our bodies in motion more.
I’m a huge walker, I use the treadmill, I use the elliptical, I use the bicycle, but there is always more I could be doing to stay healthy and not get too complacent with plumping onto the couch when I don’t want to do anything. It is no secret that so many Americans’ health is at risk. We have tons of people overweight, suffering from high blood pressure, stress, high cholesterol, Diabetes and a host of other ailments that are continuing to decrease our life expectancy.
Hell, we should want to live as long as possible. Hell, I want to live past 100, but I know if I’m not active and getting lazy with movement that is NOT going to happen America. We all have choices and if I don’t make the right choice it could come back to haunt me in the long run. The couch becomes are best friend because we can just turn on the TV and just glue ourselves directly to it without ever wanting to take our eyes off of it. Well, a lot of the time there isn’t much on TV, so why not get on the elliptical or the stationary bike while watching TV? I mean you get the best of both worlds, you get to watch TV, and you get to be physical at the same time. A body in motion is 10 xs better than a body not in motion.
This is not saying you cannot sit on the couch because with all certainty do you. If that is how you want to spend your day off, you are allowed to do so. However, just think about the fact that when you’re sitting on that couch for extensive periods of time what does that do to your body. The couch is there for you to sit, not for elongated periods of time. So remember that people.
