This handout discusses a Whole Health approach to “Working the Body.”  It’s a guide to how you can use this area of self-care to be healthier.

• On page 1, learn how working your body can improve your health and what you can do if you don’t like to exercise.
• On page 2, make it personal - identify what your body needs.
• On page 3, learn about complementary integrative approaches to working the body and learn some tips for working your body.
• On page 4, find out where to go for more information.

What is one thing that can vastly improve your health?

What if there was one treatment that could prevent and treat dozens of diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity?¹ And what if there were very few side effects of that treatment?  Would you do it?

There is such a treatment available!  And you can do it yourself, at whatever time works for you, in a way that is enjoyable for you.  That treatment is physical activity - working the body.

How may working the body improve my health?

Research studies have found that physical activity does the following:

• Reduces fatigue and helps one sleep better²
• Improves mental health and decreases anxiety and depression^3-5
• Promotes the growth of brain cells and improves the way the brain works^6-8
• Helps prevent many long-term health issues, such as^9-11

• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Dementia

• Slows the aging process¹²
• Lowers the chance of dying early from any cause^{9, 13}
• Increases the length of time one may live¹⁴

Working the body can also help in other specific ways.  Some activities increase your stamina.  Others improve your strength, or flexibility, or balance.  Still others may improve your range of motion (the area a joint can move), or dexterity (ability to use your hands or body).  Working your body in these ways can help you to live your life to the fullest and, within reason, be able to do the things you want to do