This blog post is written by TMH Staff, as part of their sponsorship of SportsAbility Expo 2024
5 Limited Mobility Exercises You Can Perform at Home
Have you come to the realization that you can’t move around the way you once could? Perhaps it’s become harder to reach for things, stand up from sitting or even walk around a room. As you age, or recover from injury, this probably feels expected, but it doesn’t have to be the norm.
The holiday season has always been referred to as the best time of the year. Even if you are not travelling to visit family and friends in other areas, there are still many activities and fun things to do with your family while at home or in the local Tallahassee community!
The best gift is creating memories with family.
The holiday season is a special time of year and by doing some of these activities it can help bring families together as they celebrate!
I do not think anyone could have imagined the challenges that presented themselves in 2020. Beginning with quarantine and then states slowly beginning to reopen brought people new routines. One thing that did get added to many people's new routines was at-home workouts. As the summer ended and winter months approached, many resorted to outdoor activities to help improve not only their physical health but their mental health as well. Staying isolated can take a toll on a person, and some doctors have begun to write “nature prescriptions” (Ducharme, 2019).
Being outside for 20 minutes can help improve your mood and well-being.
Increased time outdoors also means an increase in the body’s intake of vitamin D, which is known to help improve the immune system, bone density, and depression.
The nature prescriptions that doctors have chosen to write are to help with overall health. Whether you walk, run, hike, bike, swim or even sit down to take in the environment or fresh air, being outside for 20 minutes can help improve your mood and well-being (Ducharme, 2019).
Dr. Vicari Erwin-Wilson, who has her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Florida, is a board-certified family physician in Tallahassee, Florida. Throughout her career, Dr. Erwin-Wilson has been encouraging patients to take care of their bodies, both physically and mentally. However, this has become even more important over the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this post, Dr. Erwin-Wilson gives advice on how to stay physically and mentally healthy during this unprecedented time.
“Be sure to do something you enjoy, because smiling and feeling happy has been proven to improve the immune response and overall well-being.”
One important aspect of staying healthy is through adequate nutrition. With a bachelor’s degree in human nutrition, Dr. Erwin-Wilson is passionate about eating a proper diet and encouraging others to do so. One of her favorite healthy meals to cook is salmon with broccoli and brown rice. Dr. Erwin-Wilson believes food can greatly impact a person’s health. To help boost the immune system, she recommends getting adequate protein (from things such as lean meats, eggs, fish, nuts, and beans) and eating a variety of fruits and vegetables. The dark green, orange, yellow, and purple vegetables have specific chemicals called phytonutrients that pump up the immune system. One way she suggests getting a balanced diet is by having “a good variety by eating a rainbow of colors.”
Life is crazy. In the blink of an eye, everything can change. That’s how fast things move- in the blink of an eye. As lovers of sport and recreation, its easy to understand the appeal of a fast-moving lifestyle. Though this begs the question, what happens when things move too fast? Sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the breakneck pace of the world around us. When the physical world gets to be too much, we often attempt to retreat into our own minds. Yet just as often, people are met with an unsettling amount of anxiety and stressful thoughts within the mind. Enter the practice of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is seemingly the buzzword of the late 2010s. Every fitness guru, professional athlete, and social media influencer is seemingly screaming “you have to practice mindfulness!” from the top of their lungs. Sure, that’s all fine and well, but what exactly is mindfulness? This term can be defined as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” (Jaret, et.al, 2020). Mindfulness is essentially finding peace and quiet in one's own mind. It sounds simple enough, sure. Yet remember those unsettling thoughts I talked about earlier? Well, how in the world are we supposed to find peace and quiet inside our own mind with those there? The answer is mindfulness.
It can be easy to get caught up in your tasks for the day and not set aside some time for you to relax and connect with nature. If you work from home, you may never step outside some days if you do not section off part of your day to intentionally do so.
I have found recently that even just 30 minutes at the park is a good break point in my day to let me step away from work for a short time and get some exercise outdoors.
Those of you that are not in Tallahassee may not know about our Miracle Sports program. Since 2008, we have played just about every Thursday night on an accessible surface. The games are adapted so everyone can play and benefit from team sports. We have had so much fun!
This fall, we have some new ideas so more people can join in. With the help of our interns and Florida State University Sport Management students and Florida International University Therapeutic Recreation students, we have some awesome new things on the horizon. The following will be offered on our Facebook page and you will not need to register:
It is extremely easy to find the negative aspects of being confined to your home with limited outings. However, I have found two main benefits to working remotely from my house: time and reduction of expenses.
It’s something we all wish we could extend. Like many others, this situation has allowed me to work remotely. I have had the opportunity to spend more time with my family because I am not commuting to and from an office daily. One way to take advantage of this newly gained time is to insert regular exercise into your schedule. It is incredibly easy to stay inside and be inactive during this time, but it is even more important now to find new ways to remain active. You may have been attending fitness classes or participating in group sports, but you can find ways to exercise at home and use that previously committed time for something else. I have been able to eat nightly meals (and occasional lunches) with my family which was abnormal for us when everyone had their own outside commitments.
