The Gift of Exercise and Health

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Make exercise a lifelong habit

Exercise and physical activity are great ways to feel better, boost your health and improve your life. The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are significant and hard to ignore. And, everyone would benefit from exercise, regardless of age, gender or physical ability.

Research demonstrates that lifestyle changes, like making exercise a lifelong habit, will have a strong influence on your heath. Thus, you must make healthy habits such as exercising or being physically active daily a lifelong goal and a lifestyle. 

Physical Activity is important

Exercise and physical activity are good for just about everyone. No matter your health and physical abilities, you can gain a lot by staying active. In fact, studies show that “taking it easy” is risky. Often, inactivity is more to blame than age when older people lose the ability to do things on their own.

Lack of exercise or physical activity also can lead to more visits to the doctor, more hospitalizations, and more use of medicines for a variety of illnesses. Research has shown also that it’s important to get all four types of exercise: endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility.

Physical activity predicts better health. 

People who rarely get off the couch are more than twice as likely to die prematurely as people who exercise moderately, whether they are normal weigh, overweight or obese.  In contrast, people who are obese and fit have only slight more risk than normal-weight, fit people, according to Dr. Sandra Aamodt, author of Why Diets Make Us Fat:  The Unintended Consequences of Our Obsession with Weight Loss (Penguin Random House, 2016).

The research indicates that exercise habits are much more important than weight in determining the risk of early death.  Bottom line is that “exercise improves health even if no weight is lost.” 

Low fitness is estimated to be responsible for 16 to 17 percent of deaths in the U.S.  While, obesity accounts for only 2 to 3 percent once the effects of fitness are factored out.

Exercising 30 minutes a day is more effective than dieting 24 hours a day.  That’s the deal of a lifetime–a longer, healthier lifetime. Thus, one of life’s best gifts is exercise.

Healthy habits for the heart. 

Regular exercise protects your heart and provides many heart-healthy benefits

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S.  according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Your risk of many chronic diseases drops when you partake in regular exercise or physical activities. 

The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise every week; just 30 minutes of activity, such as walking, on five out of the seven days. 

Bottomline, exercise and physical activity across a lifetime can substantially reduce your risk of heart disease.

Seven benefits of exercise

There are seven ways exercise can lead to a happier, healthier you, according to the Mayo Clinic. The benefits of exercise are:

  1. Exercise controls weight
  2. Exercise combats health conditions and diseases
  3. Exercise improves mood
  4. Exercise boosts energy
  5. Exercise promotes better sleep
  6. Exercise puts the spark back into your sex life
  7. Exercise can be fun … and social!

As you can see, exercise is good for the body or mind. According to the Mayo Clinic, walking or moderate physical activity can improve heart health, lower blood pressure, strengthen bones and muscles, help maintain a healthy weight, and improve mood.

References:

  1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389
  2. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/four-types-exercise-can-improve-your-health-and-physical-ability#
  3. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/real-life-benefits-exercise-and-physical-activity
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