Kootenai | Kootenai Health | Issue 2, 2020

KH . ORG 9 Welcome to Ironwood Kootenai Clinic is excited to announce the addition of another family medicine location in Coeur d’Alene. Kootenai Clinic Family Medicine–Ironwood is located at 914 Ironwood Drive, Suite 101. Come see our new providers! For an appointment, call (208) 625-3500 . Christina Fisher, NP Bradley Drury, M.D. Alyssa Shaw, M.D. Is the gym your usual go-to- place for exercise? Then you may need a change of scenery, and one with lots of it: the great outdoors. If you need a nudge to move your exercise outside, there’s plenty of incentive. Research suggests that outdoor exercise delivers health benefits that can’t be duplicated indoors. And a key one is a bigger boost in positive emotions. One study, for example, found that outdoor workouts can lift your mood more and help you feel more energetic and revitalized than indoor ones. Another found that as few as five minutes of outdoor exercise can improve self-esteem, especially if you’re near greenery or water. “I think one of the biggest struggles we all have is busy workdays that leave us eager to get home and ‘relax.’ But if we think about how much energy we have in summer when the day stretches out in front of us and we are out in the evenings—walking, biking or even just sitting out front on a porch—we get so much more energy from getting outside,” said Alyssa Shaw, M.D., Kootenai Clinic Family Medicine. “I find that if I can break up my day with a run outside at lunch, I come back to work relaxed, renewed and focused for the afternoon ahead.” Moving your workouts outdoors also lets you: Connect with nature. That’s one of the best perks of outdoor exercise. Think of it this way: Where are you likely to enjoy exercise more, on a treadmill in a crowded gym or on a hiking trail in a nearby park? Save money. You don’t need a gym membership. The outdoors belongs to all of us. Potentially burn more calories. When you’re jogging or biking outdoors, a strong Body and Soul Good for Your For exercise, there may be nothing like the great outdoors headwind can help you burn more calories. You have to work harder to overcome the wind’s resistance. Get out andenjoy! So rather than staying cooped up inside, take a brisk walk, either alone to clear your mind or with a buddy to socialize. Work out your muscles on a local hill, bike on a neighborhood street, or walk one lap and jog the next at a nearby school track. Or treat yourself to a walk in the woods, in a meadow or along the lake. See if a park close by offers an exercise boot camp or a yoga class or has exercise equipment. Many parks do now. “You don’t have to do anything extreme. A quick lap around the park or walk around downtown could be enough,” Dr. Shaw said. “There is just something about unplugging, feeling the cool or warm air, the sun or the wind, all the noises that you can’t take in when you are stuck inside behind walls. It will leave you refreshed.” You can turn exercise into family time too. Play on a playground with your child (or grandchild) or take a nature hike together. After all, everybody deserves to have fun outdoors. Source: American Council on Exercise