Brent Eastwood: Green Prescription initiative boost for inactive Northlanders

Sport Northland chief executive Brent Eastwood is urging Northlanders to tap into the Green Prescription initiative to stay fit and healthy. Photo / Supplied

OPINION

The lack of motivation is one of the biggest hurdles that inactive people must manage. Life often throws us challenges and as a result our bodies and minds shut down as a form of protection.

Green Prescription is an initiative at Sport Northland that provides a solution for this challenge.

As a Green Prescription participant, you get healthy lifestyle support for up to four months. You can meet with your support person regularly to discuss goals, achievements, and strategies, or to just have a sounding board. Your support person genuinely cares and will help empower you to make the changes that you want to make.

One Green Prescription participant, who would prefer to remain anonymous, struggled to get out of bed daily because life had become too overwhelming. Some of their challenges included domestic violence, addiction, a broken heart, and death of a close loved one. It is not surprising they have been struggling.

With the help of their whānau, doctor, and support person in the Healthy Lifestyle Team at Sport Northland, they found the courage and desire to seek help.

So how did Green Prescription help them? They shared that they felt it was relaxed and easy setting. It didn't feel clinical or forced. Goals were specific and detailed, with the focus on small steps and keeping it simple. It was important to be deliberate and consistent to form a habit, not to overthink the exercise but focus on how they would feel afterwards; and ensure they were doing things they enjoyed.

This participant had regular catch-ups, which were in the form of walks and talks. Their goals included attending the Green Prescription hydrotherapy pool class on a Monday morning, where they had fun meeting other participants, frolicking in the water and as a result felt like a big kid playing. Play is so important for adults in our go-go life. It helps release endorphins, improves brain functionality, and stimulates creativity. It can help you feel young and more energetic.

In addition, they would also go for daily walks with whānau. This provided an opportunity to offload to someone they trusted and be physically active, which helps reduce stress levels, improve their mood and help with sleep.

Over time, they started to reframe their thinking, so rather than focusing on what they hadn't done, they celebrated the wonderful things they had done. Over the past few months, they have had several ongoing challenges and of course, this interrupted their activity schedule, but once things returned to some normality, they continued with their health goals.

They can honestly say they have made a genuine shift. They are starting to declutter their life, looking to revisit the things they love doing including cake making and decorating, sewing, and are keen to re-enter the workforce.

They have more energy and a new vitality for life. Yes, there are always going to be challenges, but they can trust themselves to apply the learnings and strategies to move forward when they get a bit stuck.

If you and/or your whānau would like support to get active and/or make a healthy lifestyle change, ask your health professional for a Green Prescription or self-refer on our website at www.sportnorthland.co.nz.