On September 27, we celebrated National Women’s Health & Fitness Day, the fourth Wednesday of each September for the past 15 years. Organized by the Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), the event spun off of an even-longer-established observance, National Senior Health & Fitness Day, held each May. The reason an all-ages day was established has to do with finding that awareness and exercise improve a woman’s quality of life no matter where she is on her journey.
It’s estimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 women took part in grassroots events held by more than 500 local organizations, from a talk on healthy aging to a free Zumba class. Health clubs, hospitals, parks, schools, and houses of worship were just some of the locales where women of all ages participated as their day unfolded.
“May I See the Menu, Please?”
Part of what participants experience in celebrating National Women’s Health & Fitness Day is a view of the wide array of options they can choose from to move more, eat healthier, become more aware of their health status and stay that way. The variety of activities offered is wide. Walking events, exercise demonstrations, health screenings and health information workshops are just a few examples
Fellowship may not be the best way to describe the benefits of taking part with other women. Maybe sisterhood is the sense that can be added to our natural and rational reasons for making healthier choices. It just helps to know that other people like us face the same considerations when it comes to their well-being. National Women’s Health & Fitness Day is an opportunity to experience this.
An Even Dozen Suggestions from the Celebration
An excellent resource, health.com, published a list of 12 Ways to Celebrate National Women’s Health & Fitness Day, and it sounds more like fun than a to-do list.
Try a new sport, get your thyroid checked, eat some superfoods, take a nap, ask a friend to join you in a workout, stay hydrated, have a healthy beauty treatment that also checks for skin cancer, lighten up your handbag to reduce back strain, get a massage to rub out stress, eat something high in calcium and vitamin D for your bones, or toast up some squash seeds, which is a tasty way to add iron, fiber and zinc.
And, lastly, the ever-popular “eat some chocolate,” because dark chocolate has all kinds of health benefits.
One day is just a tool for tuning up our awareness, so as helpful as the Women’s Health & Fitness day might be, it’s just a punctuation mark. Awareness and encouragement is a constant for women who are getting the most out of life because of their health and fitness. We’d love to be that resource for you. Just call us at 843-815-6468.