Children and animals seem to innately understand that exercise and moving their bodies are automatic – part of life.  If they want to get from one place to another, they simply move their legs and feet in that direction and go.  When they see something good and happy they join the activity.  Their brain tells them to use their bodies to go to the happy thing.

Medscape (June09,2017) states that “senior citizens who enjoy dog ownership increase their physical activity in a meaningful and healthy way.”  This means that as people match their movements with our animal friends both enjoy the benefits.

I wonder why we as humans forget the idea that movement helps us?  A University of Lincoln study in England found that dog owners walked 23 minutes more a day than older adults who did not own a dog – enough to meet U.S. and international exercise recommendations for substantial health benefits.

If you take some time to watch small children in a play ground, you will find that they share a trait – spontaneous joy in movement.  So, if we as a young children receive a positive feeling when we move, why do we forget about that feeling when we get older?  Could it be that we get too busy?  Is it too many intrusions from electronic devices?  Do we create too many excuses?  Are we too tired?  Have we forgotten how good that spontaneous feeling of joy actually feels?  Have we let our aging bodies rule our mind?

Well, it could be a collection of reasons.  In reality, we don’t move in our adults years as often as we did in our childhood.  So, if movement is good for happy little children and feisty young animals, it might just be good for us.  Just a thought…