90%

I heard something yesterday that I found amazing as a statistic.  Americans spend 90% of their time indoors.  90%? I found that fact knocked me off my feet.  I started to think of all the places that I would like to be and the out of doors ranks pretty high on my list.  Gardening, walking, sitting on the deck, sun basking, sipping coffee at an outdoor area, etc. 

So, I did some research and discovered that there are health hazards associated with this fact.  It seems that indoor air pollutants are 2 to 5 times higher indoors than outdoors and that this has been translating to increased health problems.  Okay, I am sure that obesity is also linked to this fact, though that wasn't listed as a direct illness.

What does 90% translate into?  If you are awake 16 hours a day and sleep 8 hours then that equals Fifty-seven and 1/4 minutes of every hour that we are awake, we spend indoors including the weekend.  OMG doesn't that seem way out of proportion to what we would like to be doing?  We have beautiful parks to go to, neighborhoods to walk in, neighbors to talk to , flowers to smell, dogs and children to play with, sights to see, hikes to take.  I know that this is something you all have probably heard, but when I was a child I was outside as much as I possibly could be.  In the summer we lived outdoors, and only came inside when we had to. 

I've decided to reclaim my minutes.  I am going to make a conscious effort to get the heck out of the indoors.  I am going to add time to what I currently do outside.  When I go shopping, I will park farther away from stores  so I spend more time outdoors.  I will air out my house everyday.  I will sit outdoors to work on my laptop when I can.  I will take my breaks outside and walk.  I will add a stroll into my week that is just for pleasure.  I will try to make changes where I can to get outside for recreation.  Art fairs, riverfront music, etc.

Maybe you want to reclaim your minutes, too.  Got any ideas?