Remember what it was like when you were young, all the exercise you got on the basketball court at practice, in the games. Remember what great shape you were in? School provides many opportunities for physical activity, whether in physical education classes, walking from class to class, or becoming involved in extracurricular sports.
Then we move on to the work world, where our bodies sit. What do we do now that we are not handed opportunities for staying fit and healthy? What do we do if increasing age and disability stop us from the activities we used to do for exercise?
As we say again and again in our training, a person who has a disability or chronic health condition should still try to be as healthy as he or she can. That means getting enough exercise, enough nutrition and staying at a healthy weight.
Find any opportunity to keep physically active,whether it means parking farther from your work or house to sneak in a little walking, performing stretching while watching TV, any extra activity will help. You don’t need to pay enormous amounts of money to your local gym in order to stay active. Which is good, because if you live on the reservation, your only local gym is probably at the high school and you are too old to go back there!
Don't forget about the Diabetes Fitness programs. Many reservations have one and if you don't have diabetes, you probably fall into the at-risk category. The Diabetes Fitness programs offer a range of services from personal trainers to treadmills you can walk on if your age, arthritis or just dislike for cold weather keep you from walking or running outside in the winter. Turtle Mountain Community College has a walking track open to the community. If you are ambitious enough, get a few friends together and play basketball at the Rec Center. Just because you don't have a coach or official uniforms any more does not mean that you can’t still play ball.
Wherever you live, taking walks after dinner is also a good way to work off any stress or excess energy. We still have some of the most beautiful country in the world, lake shores, woods, game preserves - this is nature that people come from a thousand miles away to admire on their vacation and we live right in the middle of it. Walking for 20 minutes a day, three times a week, will give you the activity you need to stay healthy and in shape. If you have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, this is a chance for you to teach them about nature, tell them stories of the old days or just listen. Children will tell you a lot if you are just quiet with them for a while.
Habits, Exercise and Weight Loss