Thank you so much for your interest in The Insight, by Sheba. I hope you enjoyed this week’s blogs about “Physical Well-Being.”

Next week’s topic will be “Spiritual Well-Being.”

Physical well-being has many physiological benefits that result in better performance, happier attitudes and improved relationships. It’s an investment in yourself that’s worth making.

Friday Review: Happy Reading!

1. It’s a Treasure.

• The better you care for your body, the longer and better it will serve you. Take pride in your body. Set aside time each day for physical activity. Choose healthy food over junk food, and maintain good hygiene. Your body will thank you for it!

2. The Benefits of Exercise

• Your daily agenda might tell you there’s no time, but making exercise a staple in your schedule will benefit you more than skipping out on it. Exercise improves overall performance. It will help you meet those deadlines and coordinate your events. So get up and get your exercise on!

3. The Missing Ingredient

• Although it seems like a small factor in improving our physical well-being, relationships are in fact imperative. Isolation can be detrimental to our health, but the remedy is not to surround ourselves with a bunch of random people. Developing and maintaining healthy relationships is a great way to improve physical well-being.

4. Healthy Goals

• Don’t allow those outside influences to prevent you from pursuing physical well-being. Be confident in your ability to achieve the goals you’ve made for yourself. Surround yourself with encouraging people to inspire you and take charge of your own life!

The Insight: Physical health is only one component of leading a healthy lifestyle, but it is utterly important that you care for your body, and make it a priority to do so. Consider the benefits of maintaining your physical well-being. Make the time for exercise to improve your overall perspective about life and your relationships. Find the right motivation to help you pursue a healthy physical life, and stick with it. You deserve it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: Some mornings the alarm clock is not enough of a motivator to get us out of bed. It takes the aroma of a fresh brewed pot of coffee to get us to at least think about starting the day. Like waking up and getting ready in the morning, exercise can become mundane and burdensome if we don’t have the right motivators to get us pumped up for physical activity.

What does it take to motivate us to pursue physical well-being?

The Self-Determination Theory, developed at the University of Rochester by Dr. Edward L. Deci and Dr. Richard M. Ryan, suggests two types of motives, accompanied by three basic psychological needs that cause us to pursue our goals:

1. Needs

• Competence: overcoming external influences to achieve your goals
• Relatedness: relationships with others
• Autonomy: the desire to be in control of your own life

2. Motivations

• Intrinsic Motivation: Inner drives to pursue self-set goals
• Extrinsic Motivation: External factors, such as peer pressure or social expectations, that influence a goal or the motivation to pursue that goal

The Insight: Don’t allow those outside influences to prevent you from pursuing physical well-being. Be confident in your ability to achieve the goals you’ve made for yourself. Surround yourself with encouraging people to inspire you and take charge of your own life!

What motivates you to work toward physical well-being?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: Have you ever started a new position or moved to a new area and it took longer than you thought to get established and make friends? It was lonely at first but then you started to feel better, tuned in, active, and alive when you created new relationships with great people.

Do relationships influence and improve our physical well-being?

According to Chicago University professor John T. Cacioppo, they do. Positive relationships of any kind have a profound impact on our physical well-being for three main reasons.

1. Reduce stress

• Loneliness directly contributes to the release of stress hormones and negatively affects your immune and cardiovascular systems.

2. Reduce the risk of disease

• The less time we spend in isolation or feeling (mentally or physically) isolated during our lives, the less likely we are to incur chronic diseases.

3. Increase social adeptness

• When in relationships of any kind we are practicing our social skills, enabling communication and nurturing more healthy relationships.

The Insight: Although it seems like a small factor in improving our physical well being, relationships are imperative. Isolation can be detrimental to our health, but the remedy is not to surround ourselves with a bunch of random people. Developing and maintaining healthy relationships is a great way to improve physical well being.

Could a healthy relationship be your missing ingredient?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: You’re an active member of Workaholics Anonymous suffering from acute schedule addiction. You’ll clear your entire calendar to meet that deadline for work or coordinate the school fundraiser, but how often do you set everything aside for physical activity?

What are the benefits of exercise and physical activity?

Studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have shown that daily physical activity can:

1. Increase energy

• Exercise ensures the flow of blood and oxygen throughout the body to help your heart and lungs do their jobs better. The more fit your heart and lungs are to perform their duties, the less energy it will take for you to perform your daily activities.

2. Raise self-esteem

• Exercise activates certain chemicals in the brain, such as endorphins, which reduce the feeling of pain and make you feel happy.

3. Reduce risks of future disease or illness

• Exercise lowers blood pressure while maintaining healthy cholesterol levels which reduces the risk of developing chronic illnesses such as heart disease

4. Help manage weight

• When we exercise we burn calories and build muscle, which helps us to lose weight or maintain healthy weight.

5. Facilitate healthy sleeping patterns

• Exercising helps to expend any extra energy from the day before it’s time for bed allowing you to get a deep, full night’s rest.

The most important aspect of working out is the “feel good” endorphins.

The Insight: If your daily agenda tells you there’s no time to work out, then block it in your schedule and commit to working out. Exercise improves overall performance in all aspects of life. So get up and get your exercise on!

Are you getting the full benefits of daily exercise?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships

The Scenario: What have you been saving to buy? What would you do if you finally bought it? You would spend the majority of your time preserving, caring for and admiring your new, well-deserved, sought after treasure. Right? But do you treat your body like the treasure it is? Our bodies are more fragile and valuable than any material items we will ever buy in our lifetimes.

How do you care for your physical well-being?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 3 adults is obese. Healthy physical well-being can reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory disease and obesity. It also increases the overall contentment for life and promotes a positive perspective.

Steps toward healthy physical well-being.

1. Exercise 30 minutes a day

• Daily physical activity promotes healthy weight, strong muscles and bones.

2. Maintain healthy nutrition

• A healthy balanced diet ensures that you are getting the proper vitamins and minerals your body needs, and helps prevent chronic disease.

3. Monitor tobacco and alcohol consumption

• Studies have found that alcohol consumption is linked to breast and colon cancer.  Studies also show that 90% of men and 80% of women that die from lung cancer are smokers.

4. Maintain good hygiene standards

• Good hygiene at home and in public prevents the spread of illness and disease.

The Insight: The better you care for your body, the longer it will mentally and physically serve you. Set aside time each day for physical activity indoors or outdoors. Your body and mind will thank you for it!

What steps do you take to improve your physical well-being?

By Sheba

www.bySheba.com

A Positive Perspective for Life, Love, and Relationships