Ease Into Exercise Routines This Spring

Having trouble getting off the couch? You’re not alone. The World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that more than 25% of adults aren’t meeting the weekly minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise. In more than 20 years, according to WHO, the world has made zero progress with exercise. Yet we could avoid 1 in 10 early deaths if we managed just 50% of the minimal amount of exercise advised, according to a February 2023 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by Leandro Garcia, D.Sc., et al.Getting started is, of course, the struggle. Fitness gurus have convinced us we can and should go from zero to Captain America in weeks. Our New Year’s Resolutions are so unreasonable that a term has been coined for the second Friday in January: Quitters Day. What we need is habit stacking: small tweaks to routines we already practice. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine recommends observing your daily routines for 30 days to seek out possibilities for adaptations.Consider, for example, the 20-8-2 rule, where you sit for 20 minutes, stand for eight and move for two. If you know you will always spend two hours on a...