Page 6 - Priorities #9 1999-March

Kim
A Conversation With
MASON
Small changes in daily routine can be just as effective as an exercise program in the gym. The effects on blood pressure and cholesterol-related measures are long-lasting, studies show.
Woodside Priory’s Kim Mason believes anybody can makle these changes and she sees more benefits to a healthy lifestyle than just the positive numbers on the cardiovascular tests. Her philosophy, in short, is that life’s a positive-feedback loop: feel better physically, feel happier mentally, feel better physically... and on and on and on.
Kim is her own best advertisement for her philosophy of living. To see her is to want her diet. To talk with her is to want her attitude.
Apparently, Kim lived her philosophy even before she knew it was one. She grew up on a huge poultry farm in the Canadian wilderness, pursuing winter and water sports and playing outdoors. Then, in high school, team sports added new dimensions to her social life and sense of accomplishment. She admired the personal guidance her PE coach and her teaching relatives were able to offer through their professional lives.
Kim lives on the Priory campus, where she heads the Department of Physical Education, coaches several sports and occasionally offers personal fitness training. In this “Conversation With...” she talks about the role of fitness in a typical
“too-busy-for-it” life.
C. Dobervich
We are bombarded with news about the importance of physical fitness but research shows that most of us aren’t doing what we should. Why don’t we?
People think they have to make big changes. They don’t! Anything that gets you moving will start a chemical process that releases anxiety and makes you feel happier and healthier. You can start with just 10 minutes a day and any activity will do it, from washing the car to walking more to doing your own housework. It sounds odd to be talking in cliches about how exercise can help you lead a fuller life. But physiologically it’s true.
 So the message is “just get up and move?”
That’s it. When you come home from a hard day at work and you feel like all you want to do is throw some fast food into the microwave and watch TV...well, it sounds good but after that you feel horrible! If you made it your goal to just cut loose for 15 minutes - put on some great, fast music and do some work that involves moving your body, you’re going to feel so much better!
Does it seem to you that we get into a negative feedback loop? We want a successful job so we can get more money. So we work harder, work longer hours. Eventually, we need a housekeeper, a gardener and a sitter so we will have time to get to the “Y” to work out on the treadmill. It seems like a lot of financial stress for no net gain, at least in relaxation and exercise.
Life’s a positive- feedback loop: feel better physically, feel happier mentally, feel better physically... and anybody can do it.
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