Why ‘Doing’ Is Healthy and What Can Impact This
What are the health benefits of doing? Given that humans are driven to ‘do’ (even when you are procrastinating!!!) there is a multitude of health benefits from ‘doing’ and being involved in engaging activities.
When we are involved in activities, for the most part, we are contributing to something such as our families, our community, our clients and to ourselves. This contribution has a positive effect on our health, providing our contributions are for the right reasons. When we feel like we are participating in something that we enjoy, worked hard towards/for, our self-esteem, self-worth, psychological health improve and then secondarily our physical health benefits. It is amazing what participating in even the most basic activities mean to us as humans and quite often we don’t realise how important even the simple activities are until we can not do them on our own.
The simple act of getting up and getting ready for the day involves hundreds to thousands of thought processes, coordinated with physical and neurological involvement. This is why when there is a health issue be it from chronic illness, injury, age, acute illness, stress it can affect us in so many different ways. When humans participate in activities it further benefits our entire being whether it be voluntary, paid, leisure, family. When it is purposeful and managed well the health benefits are phenomenal. When activities are impacted by health, disease, injury the impacts are also phenomenal and can lead to so many different issues such as depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, injuries inside or outside of those activities, withdrawal, changes in our sympathetic and autonomic nervous systems, changes in our immune and digestive systems, the list is long.
So the health benefits of doing are:
- Contributions to other (another person, society/community, group, family)
- Engaged (cognitively)
- Positive cognitive and psychological health
- Positive physical health
- Positive neurological health
- Improved relationships with self and others
- Sometimes improved finances (depending on activities)
What can impact any of our activities:
- Injury
- Illness (acute or chronic)
- Long-term poor diet and lack of exercise
- Stress
- Family
- Family stress
- Finances
- Environment
- Toxic environments
- Weather
- Long-term poor diet, lack of exercise, negative mindset
- Cognitive abilities
- Lack of resources
- The list could continue depending on the situation
So ensuring that we can and we do participate in all types of activities is what makes us tick.
