Happy St Pat’s for this weekend. A good time to celebrate all that is healthy and green! Enjoy this week’s article.
Dr Pia
The Ultimate Anti-Aging Tool is Exercise!
It is the secret to better posture, less pain and better mental health.
Whether you’re 9 or 90, abundant evidence shows exercise can enhance your health and well-being. But for many people, sedentary pastimes, such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing computer and video games, have replaced more active pursuits. People always say that they do not have enough time to exercise? What if you took some of that TV, Computer or video game time and exercised? Problem solved? The hard part is starting. Once you decide to start honor your entry ramp? How long since you last exercised? How old are you? and so on. It is better to start slow, build and be consistent that it is to flame out and hurt yourself by trying to do to much at once. You can’t make up for a years of couch/ chair time in one or two sessions. Use mindfulness when you exercise. Know when to push and when to take it a little bit slower. Your looking for the sweet spot between challenge and good stress.
What does exercise do for you?
The benefits of exercise may sound too good to be true, but decades of solid science confirm that exercise improves health and can extend your life. Adding as little as half an hour of moderately intense physical activity to your day can help you avoid a host of serious ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer, particularly breast and colon cancers. Regular exercise can also help you sleep better, reduce stress, control your weight, brighten your mood, sharpen your mental functioning, and improve your sex life.
A well-rounded exercise program consists of four components: aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility training, and balance exercises. Each benefits your body in a different way.
Fighting disease with aerobic activity
Aerobic exercise is the centerpiece of any fitness program. Nearly all of the research regarding the disease-fighting benefits of exercise revolves around cardiovascular activity, which includes walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling. Experts recommend working out at moderate intensity when you perform aerobic exercise .
Protecting bone with strength training
Strength or resistance training, such as elastic-band workouts, and the use of weight machines or free weights, is important for building muscle and protecting bone.
Bones weaken with age, but strength training can help slow this trend. Not only can strength training make you look and feel better, but it can also result in better performance of everyday activities, such as climbing stairs and carrying bundles. Stronger muscles also mean better mobility and balance, and thus a lower risk of falling and injuring yourself. In addition, more lean body mass aids in weight control because each pound of muscle burns more calories than its equivalent in fat.
Easing back pain with flexibility exercises
Stretching or flexibility training is the third prong of a balanced exercise program. Muscles tend to shorten and weaken with age. Shorter, stiffer muscle fibers make you vulnerable to injuries, back pain, and stress. But regularly performing exercises that isolate and stretch the elastic fibers surrounding your muscles and tendons can counteract this process. And stretching improves your posture and balance.
Preventing falls with balance (core strength) exercises
Core Strength and balance exercises take only a few minutes and often fit easily into the warm-up portion of a workout. Many strength-training exercises also serve as balance exercises. Or balance-enhancing movements may simply be woven into other forms of exercise, such as tai chi, yoga, and Pilates.
Exercise at a glance
In a nutshell, exercise can:
- Improves your resilience quotient and helps your immune function
- Helps you manage your blood sugar and blood pressure
- Helps you manage your stress, which we all need.
- improves mood and mental functioning by releasing feel good neurotransmitters
- keeps your bones strong and joints healthy by providing nutrients via the blood and other fluids.
- helps you maintain a healthy weight.
- helps you maintain good posture
Bottom Line… Start and once you start don’t stop ever!!
