How to live
A Full Healthy Life
Reinventing Healthy Living | Melanie Carvell | TEDxUMary
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I don't know if you've ever felt like
this guy feels he came home from work
and he says to his wife I thought we'd
just slip into our jogging suits and
spend the evening watching TV sounds
pretty good actually doesn't it how many
of you are tired at the end of your days
we all are right how many of you have
physically active jobs or lifestyles
where you're running around with your
head cut off all day anybody a few few
lucky Souls here unfortunately most of
the activities been engineered out of
our lifestyles hasn't it
due to our labor saving devices and all
our digital distractions we have become
very inactive but the good news is we
can do something about it and hopefully
that will be our goal that will
accomplish tonight this cartoon always
makes me think of my dad I grew up in
the small town of Mott the spot where
the girls are hot I know southwest there
was other jingles but we won't go into
that but my my dad owned a bar in Mott
on Main Street and our family home was
about two blocks away from Rick's ins
bar and so he had his routine for 37
years he would head out into whatever
big car he was driving at the time
drives those two blocks to the bar come
home for lunch drive back afterwards
come home take a nap come back back and
forth probably about six times a day
he'd make that trip in his car to work
crazy very crazy but you know habits are
kind of tricky aren't they they're like
that they become kind of automatic and
part of who we are and we don't even
realize that there's an opportunity
maybe to do things a little bit
differently try this for me once just
cross your arms over your chest and now
moving forward from here we're never
going to do it that way again from now
on we're going to put our opposite arm
on top
feels kind of wacky sort of
uncomfortable habits are a part of us
and it is hard to change them but we are
faced with big trouble coming our way a
virtual tidal wave a tsunami of problems
and so it's so important for us to try
to develop some healthier habits we know
that most of us carry too much weight
we've got a big problem with obesity and
if you struggle with weight don't feel
alone because we're really all in this
together how much money do you suppose
we spend in the United States a year on
weight loss any guesses out there thirty
billion dollars so we're all in this
together it's a big struggle and the the
worrisome thing about obesity is that
it's really the canary in the coal mine
because where there's obesity several
problems follow one of the most
concerning ones is that by 2020 public
health officials are predicting that one
in three of us are going to have a
chronic expensive long-term disease
diabetes we spend a ton of money every
year on health care 2.5 trillion dollars
a year on health care more than any
other country in the world
what is Nike tell us to just do it right
like it's that easy
it isn't changing behavior is hard it's
tricky and you know it's definitely
something that we need to work on and
probably then one of the most concerning
things is the legacy that we're leaving
our children are more sedentary than
ever you know our kids don't always
listen to us at least mine didn't but
they'll never fail to imitate us and so
it's so important for us to set a good
example if we take care of ourselves
then there are going to be so much more
likely to do the same if we have a
positive relationship with exercise and
a healthy relationship with food then
they will as well so what gets us into
this big heap of trouble really it's
just five things now five things that
get us into all this
trouble are not surprising too much
eating too much drinking too much stress
too much smoking and not enough exercise
and although it's very concerning and
kind of depressing there's also great
opportunity here 80% of that 2.5
trillion dollars that we spend a year on
health care is because of lifestyle
factors things that we can control so
there's a great opportunity for us there
if we could get our arms around
developing a healthier lifestyle we can
prevent 80% of disease there's a new
criminal in town have you met them it's
the time we spend sitting on our rear
ends you know in the past couple decades
we've been pretty quick to shake a stick
out of smoker haven't we and say don't
you know those cigarettes are going to
kill you but it's very important for us
to realize that if we're not shaking a
leg ourselves we can't really point a
crooked finger at a smoker because our
relative risk is the same as smoking two
packs of cigarettes a day if we're in
active sitting on our rear ends saps our
energy and ruins our health and we're
doing more and more of it than we've
ever done
most Americans spend about 80% of their
days sitting and so it's something that
we really need to do take and take
charge of and do something about so
please don't take a seat when we have a
chair about a hundred things happen and
99 of them aren't good our circulation
slows to a crawl and when our
circulation slows down it affects our
whole body when we sit our fat burning
enzymes decrease by 90% our calorie
burning comes to a screeching halt when
you sit you burn about one calorie a
minute when we stand up and move around
we burned about seven calories a minute
and so you wonder well how much of a
difference does that make
eight-hour day at work a big difference
if you're a lawyer or an accountant and
you spend most of your day in front of
your most of your eight-hour day in
front of a computer you'll probably burn
about 1,500 calories on your work at
your work if you're a barista in the
coffee shop we're talking more like 3000
calories so what we do throughout our
day how we move throughout our day and
if we can interrupt sitting makes a huge
difference for us our bones get softer
our muscles get weaker and probably one
of the most important things is our
productivity really starts to flag how
many of you have an energy draining
about the middle of the afternoon we're
so tired without that blood flow our
brains just don't work as well either so
we know that being active makes us
healthier that is critical but sometimes
I don't think we give enough emphasis to
some of the other benefits when we take
time to take care of ourselves and be
physically active it is one of the best
antidepressants that we can ever go on
it improves our mood it improves our
sleep and I don't know about you but
when I take time to take care of myself
and get some physical activity in I'm a
better wife I'm a better mother I'm a
better employee and probably most
importantly I have an energy than to
give to others as well and we all know
that serving others is one of the best
ways that we can really add meaning to
our own life and that's what really
makes us happy so so important and then
how many of you want to be smarter many
times we underestimate the value of how
exercise affects our brain affects our
cognitive and intellectual skills it is
critical when we exercise we stimulate
growth
factors that actually build brain cells
and also have a special effect on a
small area of our brain called the
hippocampus the hippocampus has a big
job it's the area of our brain that
controls learning memory programming
processing and as we get older the
hippocampus starts to shrink well we can
keep those losses to a minimum if we
stay physically active and exercise is
really the only thing that's been shown
to decrease our chance of developing
Alzheimer's by 70% remarkable exercise
also helps the right and left side of
our brains work together let's give it a
try I want you all to stand up for me so
we're going to start with our right arm
and it helps if you count with me
here we go pretty simple one count out
loud - you've got it three four five six
you've got the right arm you got it okay
left arm is little trickier here we go
one two right here three four five six
right arm one more time simple as pie
one two three four five six the tricky
side left arm one two three four five
six are you ready to put the right in
the left side of the brain together
bring it on
are you ready okay here we go here's one
here's two here's three four five six go
ahead and have a seat
did you have to think a little bit about
that I had to practice that a lot before
I was willing to get up in front of a
group and do it but exercise challenges
our brain in many ways and so important
for us so if you're a student and you
have an exam coming up one of the best
things that you could do is take a half
hour break and go for a swim or a bike
or a walk or a run it will help you to
retain everything that you're trying to
learn so we know what we need to do we
know how powerful a healthy lifestyle is
and how it can add years to our life and
more importantly life to our years but
how do we get ourselves going the best
fire is not the one that somebody else
slides but the one that we like from
within us and when we talk about
motivation what it is what it is and how
to get it how to keep it oftentimes what
I see is that people wait for that magic
moment and we think that when we get
there and life is easier things settle
down a little bit that we're going to
start taking care of ourselves we think
that when our kids get to school when
our kids get out of school we're going
to start taking a little bit of care of
ourselves when the wind stops blowing we
are going to go for a bike ride right
when it finally warms up we're going to
get out there and go for a walk when it
cools down we're going to get moving but
we know don't wait that there is no
there when things are going to get
easier there's no magic moment we need
to do something on a daily basis to take
good care of ourselves to invest in
ourselves physically spiritually
emotionally if we want to lead
meaningful lives I think another thing
to think about too is that many times
people think that first we get motivated
and then we start moving but really it's
opposite if you want to build your
willpower if you want to build your
motivation you need to do something
positive for yourself and motivation
follows every
time you make a choice and we are
confronted with choices all day long to
be more physically active every time you
do something positive motivation follows
it doesn't come first but it'll follow I
like to think of it as motivation 1.0
2.0 on 3.0 where we really want to get
to so motivation 1.0 is when we start
taking a little bit better care of
ourself because somebody tells us that
we have to maybe it's an employer maybe
it's a death threat we just had a heart
attack or we just got a diagnosis of
diabetes so 1.0 is something or somebody
else knock knock knocking on the door
saying hey lady troubles the foot and we
need to make a change
motivation 2.0 we're getting a little
bit closer to being more internally vote
motivated that's when we start taking
better care of ourself because of the
sticks and carrots so a stick might be a
little sharp stick poke Ania might be
your insurance company who says because
you smoke you are going to have to cough
up another $250 a month on your
insurance premium and sometimes getting
hit in the wallet is a motivator for us
to change or maybe the carrot that gets
you going is some type of reward and it
might be your employer who says if you
do this fitness challenge we're going to
give you some extra dollars to spend in
your health savings account but at some
point no matter how sweet and crunchy
the carrots are or how sharp those
little sticks are that are poking us
that doesn't always lead to long-term
behavior change - and some research
shows that incentives can actually
backfire on us when we incentivize
people with money or prizes or whatever
it might be we had a fitness challenge
at work we all got a little activity
tracker which is a wonderful tool to
keep us all accountable and then we were
rewarded along the way when we reach
different milestones for taking
steps but guess what a couple of our
employees figured out that if they put
their Fitbit on top of the dryer when
there was a full load of clothes in
there and ran it the whole cycle they
got 30,000 steps out of the DIA even our
own CEO clipped his Fitbit on his
hunting dog of all things so rewards and
incentives sometimes can backfire on us
but motivation 3.0 is where we all want
to get to and that's developing that
internal motivation and that's when we
can look at something that at first
glance seems like a lot of work and
maybe a little bit of a negative but we
can find the joy in it and we find the
value in each day when we take a little
bit better care of ourselves that
trickle-down effect where everything
falls into place a little bit better
because we are living life fully charged
this little hen she has about graduate
level motivation I think she says I
don't think of it as laying an egg I
think of it as lowering my cholesterol
so obviously she's finding the positives
in the work that she has to do she's a
little smug about it but when we're
trying to change behavior we know what
doesn't work when we know kind of the
things that help us out a little bit
more I like to think of it like the F's
and the arse
the F's aren't very helpful somebody is
trying to force us to make a change it's
not too motivating is it autonomy our
autonomy is probably our number one
motivator it has to be our idea doesn't
it for us to be successful they always
say knowledge is power and we can lay
all the facts out on the table but
having the facts on the table without
really doing anything about them and
moving to action isn't all that helpful
either is that we can scare someone
straight
and that might keep them going for a
while but doesn't lead to much long-term
success and then there's always guilt
right we can we can do things when we
feel guilty about it but that isn't very
inspiring either so we know that these
things don't help us very much
individually or if we're trying to work
with others people we manage patients
were working with we know that that that
they're not very inspiring so what does
help us change behavior what gets us on
the right track it has to start with a
positive attitude if you want to move
forward it's critical that you start
from a good place of a solid self-esteem
self-love optimism spirituality that
spirit of grit bring it on
how hard can it be we've got to start
there so the ars are so much more
helpful than the f's
the first one is routine you know our
human bodies really crave rhythm and
routine when we get into a routine of a
healthy habit that becomes automatic and
it really serves us well a girlfriend
that I run with at 5:30 in the morning
sets herself up for success the night
before she lays all her clothes out she
has the coffee in the coffeemaker ready
to go all you have to do is push the
button the cereal bowl is out with a
spoon everything is set to go the alarm
goes off and she's up and running she
doesn't even think about it she's off
the door out the door but if my alarm
goes off at five o'clock and I think no
where did I put my running shoes did I
leave them at work or are they in the
car or and isn't that all it takes for
us to kind of get in the gumption trap
and we're going to hit the snooze and
probably go back to bed getting those
healthy routines makes a huge difference
for us to be successful who are your
reinforcements who is in your
cheerleading squad as human beings were
designed to connect with our community
we need each other and that's why things
like Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight
Watchers and
support groups really help us succeed
because we need each other if you want
to fail at whatever you're trying to
achieve whether it's running 50
marathons before you turn 50 or writing
a book or quit smoking if you want to
fail keep it a secret you'll be much
more likely to fail if you want to
succeed talk about it and people will
say how's that book coming and then you
better get the thing done right it's so
important in fact the National Weight
Control Registry has studied people who
has successfully taken weight off over a
long term and have found that the most
common denominators are peer support and
accountability we have to be able to
recover don't we many times life throws
a wrench into what we're doing and we
really need to be able to bounce back
it's kind of like that smoker who's quit
smoking and they're doing really well
and they haven't had a cigarette in six
weeks which is a tough thing to
accomplish and then they have a terrible
day and they have a cigarette and what
happens while they say gosh you know I'm
a big loser I might as well smoke the
pack and go down with the ship was it
that one cigarette that hurt them not so
much it's how we react to it if you can
react to a slip-up it or a failure and
say who cares I'm human
peanut Buster parfait is one on sale and
I had one and I'm not gonna let that be
the excuse to let the rest of my my diet
go to the birds so so important to
forgive yourself
many times people get frustrated they
say you know I took two steps forward
and one step back it's so frustrating
but what is two steps forward and one
step back it is still one step forward
right and if you are on the wrong road
with your nutrition or your fitness or
your stress level or whatever it might
be you can turn around right you don't
have to take that road all the way to
Dallas Texas you can turn around and
Rapid City and come on home so forgiving
yourself and moving on is probably one
of
the most important things reframing is
taking something that on first glance
looks a lot like hard work and turning
it around and looking at it with a
spirit of gratitude I challenge you to
look at your to-do list
moving forward from tonight and rather
than saying I have to do this and I have
to do that
change it to get to replace that half -
with get to every chance you get we can
say I have to stop at the grocery store
because I have to go home and make my
family supper tonight I get stuff at the
grocery store as I get to go home and
make my family supper tonight I have to
go to church tomorrow no you don't have
to you get to there's so many people
that would love to have a chance to
practice their religion and they can't I
have an exam that I have to study for
tomorrow oh I have to study no you don't
you get to you get to attend college
there's a million people who take your
place in a minute I have to go for a run
no it's a gift and to get to and in
closing I think one of the experiences
that brought gratitude to the front of
my life was being able to compete in the
national traskon championships and one
of the first years I competed they held
them in Florida Clermont Florida and
whoever thought that the national
triathlon championships in the middle of
July was a good idea I don't know it was
a hundred degrees in the shade Hunger
percent humility humility with there was
a lot of humility in the air too
especially with me humidity I meant to
say that that's part of the story it was
a tough day but there was also a lot on
the line on the line was the chance to
make the national triathlon team and
then be able to go to the World
Championships but at the same time the
weather conditions were such that they
were really warning us be careful we've
hauled a lot of people off to the
hospital with heatstroke and heat
exhaustion so the first thing is a mile
swim jumped into the lake and even that
was in the upper 80s got out of the
water not the best swimmer in the
world's I was in about 37th place I had
some wood to chop to catch up if I was
going to make the top 10 but I can ride
a bike I got on my bike went to town
passed a ton of people really trying to
keep my hydration up and and I got off
the bike in second place so I was I was
thrilled with that but I all it was also
cautious I was also very cautious that's
where that humility comes in because I'm
not as strong of a runner
I went from second place to third place
to fourth place to fifth place to sixth
place to seventh place to eighth place
and had two miles left to go and I had
the worst attitude in the world I was
sure that my chances of making the
national team were going to go down the
drain and then I caught up with a young
man that was running on a prosthetic leg
and was really struggling we both were
really struggling and I remember
glancing at my watch and seeing that I
had been out there for about two hours
20 minutes two hours and 20 minutes but
I knew that the physically challenged
division had started about two hours
before me so this young man had been out
in that heat for over four hours and as
I passed him I reached over to him and I
touched him on the shoulder and I said
you look beautiful
and he said you look beautiful too and
we both just looked like hell but I tell
you what I got my rear end in gear and
crossed that finish line in eighth place
and made the national team in of the
eight years that I had the blessing to
be able to compete in the world trials
on Championships it was that year that I
want a bronze medal for Team USA and who
did I have to thank but someone who
showed me how important it is to be
grateful for what we have to do when you
practice gratitude on a daily basis you
are standing on a very firm ground in
which you can move forward so can you
fit more activity into your everyday
it's so important that we do our lives
depend on it thank you
you
