10 ways to incorporate mood-boosting exercise into LTC

Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News:

10 ways to incorporate mood-boosting exercise into LTC

Cold weather. An uncertain world. Rogue shrinks making the rest of us caring, diligent professionals look bad. I don’t know about you, but I need a mood lifter.

I came across an article that suggests that exercise of all kinds, even small movements, can make us feel less depressed. In “Get up and move. It may make you happier,” New York Times health writer Gretchen Reynolds notes that people in a University at Cambridge study “turned out to feel happier when they had been moving in the past quarter-hour than when they had been sitting or lying down, even though most of the time they were not engaged in rigorous activity.”

How can we incorporate more movement into our days across the spectrum of long-term care?

Personally, I purposely forego my car so I can walk to and from the subway and I take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible. I encounter surprisingly few coworkers doing the same, so perhaps that can be number one on this list of get-moving ideas:

1. Take the stairs.

2. Use public transportation. Sign up for or offer workers a transit tax exemption if a program, such as TransitChek in New York City, is available in your area.

3. Kill two birds with one stone by walking around the facility on rounds and checking in with staff members and residents.

4. Join or begin a lunchtime walking program. Find a buddy to add fun and accountability.

For the entire article, visit:

10 ways to incorporate mood-boosting exercise into LTC