Daily outdoor exercise raises Lynn and Dee’s energy levels.
“You don’t have to be sick to better your health,” says Dee Green, a recent guest at Hartland Lifestyle Education Center (HLEC). “A lot of people complain about being tired, but investing in your health will give you extra energy.”
Lynn and Dee Green actually work at Hartland—Lynn in plant services and Dee in Hartland Publications. But they realized that their health wasn’t as good as it should be, even though they knew the health message. “I wanted to improve my health,” Lynn shares, “since I had a lot of bad habits that needed to be broken, like eating late at night and not exercising enough. I decided to go through a session at Hartland Lifestyle Education Center to help me get back on track.”
“Working in an office all day, I don’t often get the exercise and the sunshine that I should be getting,” Dee confesses. “But daily outdoor exercise really raised my energy level a lot during the session. Every morning I looked forward to my walks with Gao Na, my student therapist. We talked about everything, from Scripture to what she wants to do after she graduates. It was my favorite time of the day.”
Lynn also experienced a boost, both physically and intellectually. “Being a guest at the Lifestyle Education Center not only improved my endurance, but it improved my lifestyle in general. The lectures taught me many things about my eating habits, hypertension, and many other aspects of life. Dee and I still drink lemon water every morning, since we learned that it gives our bodies a good ‘jump start.’”
Having experienced the relaxing, rejuvenating effects of exercise in the great outdoors, Lynn and Dee started brainstorming. How can we continue getting our exercise after the session is finished and we have to return to work? They both came up with the same answer: hiking. Now they go hiking every weekend. “At first we only hiked one or two miles,” Lynn says. “Then we moved it up to three miles, and I said, ‘This is enough for me!’ But we kept at it, increasing the mileage each time. Now, sometimes we hike as much as 20 miles in a day!”
Dee especially enjoyed the closeness she felt with each of the other health guests. “I felt like I’d known them my whole life! Everything we did, we did together, and that really bonded us. It was so encouraging to see the progress that everyone else was making. One lady could hardly get out of bed when she arrived, but by the end of the session she was participating in all the exercises with us.”
“I think everybody should go through a session at HLEC, even if they’re not sick, so they can see the benefits of a healthful lifestyle,” Dee concludes.
