What's Your Favorite Television Show?

I was having a conversation with a patient about the frequently heard excuse as to why people don't exercise on a regular basis, which is that they don't have the time.

"That's a bunch of crap," he said.  "I guarantee you I have a busier life than 90% of your patients."

My first thought was that that was a fairly bold and presumptuous statement for somebody to make. After all, how can he know what other people's lives are like?  But then he explained that in addition to being a partner at his law firm (time consuming), he was a single father of three (very time consuming), one of whom has special needs (unimaginably time consuming and emotionally exhausting).  Maybe he was right after all.

After sharing the details of his jam-packed life, he then said to me something that resonated and stuck with me:

"The next time one of your patients says to you that they don't have time to do their exercises, ask them 'What's your favorite T.V. show?'  If they have one, then the have time for exercise."

Look, I know that people don't want to be preached to about the importance of exercise.  It gets annoying.  But I DO think it's that important, and it's why I continue to write about it.  I'm also not sitting on some high-horse saying that I don't enjoy some good mindless television watching.  After all, I watch episodes of Seinfeld that I've already seen 8 times and still laugh (which also has value)!  I watch my fair share of Knick, Giant, and Yankee games.  I even watched American Idol with my wife until this year (yes, I admit it).  I'm simply saying that if we truly examined our days and were more honest with ourselves, squeezing in a little bit of exercise would suddenly seem a lot more feasible.

Not long ago I read a quote from a doctor who said that if an obese person comes into his office, the single best thing that he could do to help all of their impaired systems would be to take them for a walk.  But he can't, because that's not how our healthcare system works.  So instead he prescribes medication and performs reactionary procedures.  With that thought in mind, the next time you sit down to watch Dr. Oz's show about ways to stay healthy, try turning the set off, grab an apple, and go for a walk.  Rather than sitting for an hour watching a TV doctor talk about how to get healthy, you'll be using that newly discovered hour to actually DO SOMETHING to get healthy.  It's a notion to which Dr. Oz himself, if not his advertising sponsors, should surely agree.