THE greatest gift anyone will ever give you

Have you ever stopped to think about how INCREDIBLE your body actually is?

Think about it. Even at rest, your body is working unbelievably hard to breathe, to send signals to and from your brain, to see and hear, to allow your body to sit or stand in a certain position, to digest food to fuel and nourish your body, and for organs and hormones to function… the list is endless! Day and night, for your entire life.

Try this for a minute… take a really deep, breath in to fill your lungs with as much air as possible. Then take a long, slow breath out. How did that feel? Did you think about where the air was going? Why we do it every single second of our lives? Each and every organ in your body needs that air to be able to function. As soon as that process stops; we stop.

Or if you accidently cut yourself. The fact that your body has the capacity to self-heal is incredible! Yet we take it all for granted.

The human body is designed to hunt for food, demanding daily movement and strength. To eat from nature. To rise with the sun and sleep when it gets dark. To exist in families of multiple generations and often as part of a community.

Over time, we have created many amazing inventions which have made life easier for ourselves. We can have food delivered straight to our door. We sit on chairs instead of the ground. We can do our jobs without leaving the house, and process tasks more efficiently and effectively using technology. We can exist in isolation from other people.

Unfortunately, in return we have simultaneously removed many aspects of life that kept us healthy without any conscious effort.

As complex as the body is, it has very few basic needs to stay healthy. It needs to move. It needs to rest and recover. It needs to spend time in and be fuelled by nature. It needs shelter. It needs genuine connection with others through meaningful relationships. It needs a sense of purpose.

The further we move away from these basic needs, the harder our bodies have to work, and the more they start to struggle. Many of us force our bodies to sit for prolonged periods of time which over time can lead to pain, disfunction and weight gain. We eat processed foods that our bodies work harder to digest, which contain fewer nutrients leading to deficiencies, and which can be more calorie dense contributing to weight gain. We stay up later with more screen time, leading to fewer hours of poorer-quality sleep, lower mood and lower energy levels. We spend less time around people whom we genuinely love and who make us happy. The list goes on…

Before we enter the craziness that comes annually with the festive period and the start of a New Year, we would like to put a thought out there.

What if this New Year, we made a commitment to make one small change that would lead to better care for our bodies?

What if, instead of the usual New Year dieting, restriction and pavement pounding, we chose to ignore the noise and look at the bigger picture?

What if we made our health and wellbeing our number one priority?

You only get one body and it is THE greatest gift anyone will ever give you. Will you look after it or let it go to waste?

If you need any help figuring out where to start, book a free intro chat today with a member of our team today at https://aristosfitness.as.me/no-sweat.