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A Better You
by Jo Ann
Fore
Is
Exercise Really Necessary?
Intellectual
awareness about the importance of exercise is not
lacking. Periodicals and ezines tout numerous studies
of how physical activity reduces stress, builds muscles,
and improves our health. We’ve learned it’s
responsible for better sleep, a healthier life and
even better relationships. We read about exercise;
we discuss it over dinner with friends; and we even
occasionally toss the idea around with our physician.
The benefits cannot be denied: Regular exercise is
necessary to maintain a quality lifestyle.
Yet
many people choose to live sedentary lives.
“You
know that physical activity and exercise is important
and you should do it,” states Michael Hyek, Ph.D. “The
average person can probably name ten things that they
know, or have heard, about the benefits of exercise;
yet it still doesn’t motivate them to take action.”
The
greatest deterrent from exercise is usually time. With
a full work week, errands to run, and children to care
for, who has time, right? The demands for our time
scream louder than the benefits of exercise, and lack
of activity wins. But the price is high.
Hyek – who
started his career in Cardiac Rehab in Houston, Texas,
before coming to Johnson City, TN to open a medical
fitness center – explains, “Physical inactivity,
itself, has been linked to a number of issues, such
as heart disease, obesity, diabetes...even certain
types of cancer. It doesn’t mean that just because
you are physically inactive that you are going to get
these diseases but there is an association…the
less physically active you are, the greater your risk
seems to be for those types of diseases. Certainly,
the longer that you are physically inactive and the
older that you get, your risk increases even more.”
Don’t
let a personal catastrophe become your motivator to
be physically active. We make time for what’s
important to us. Exercise must become enough of a priority
for you to schedule it into an otherwise hectic daily
routine.
The
good news is: It’s never too late
to start an exercise program. Hyek recounted dramatic
firsthand examples of people who had never exercised
a day in their life, who had a heart attack and were
fortunate to survive it. They went to cardiac rehab,
started exercising and made complete lifestyle changes.
They lost weight; they got their cholesterol down,
and got their heart functions even better than they
were before they had a heart attack. He’s seen
diabetics who have gotten off their medication because
they lost weight and became physically active.
Hyek,
General Manager of The
Wellness Center offers the following insight
to someone considering beginning an exercise program:
1.
Check with your doctor.
The first step is to visit
your doctor, get checked out, and make sure you are
healthy enough to start an exercise program.
2.
Decide on the type of activity you can do.
If you
are just beginning an exercise program and have done
nothing previously, starting a basic walking program
is probably the least expensive way to go. The general
recommendations that the Surgeon General, the American
Heart Association, and the American College of Sports
Medicine all recommend, consistently, is to accumulate
30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on most
days of the week. It doesn’t have to
be continuous activity. You can go for a 10 minute
walk in the morning, go for a 10 minute walk at lunch,
and go for a 10 minute walk in the evening; and you
have accumulated 30 minutes of activity.
3.
Decide on your starting point.
There are a lot of
you who don’t walk five minutes a day and you’re
thinking, “Wow! There’s no way I can do
30 minutes.” You need to start with what’s
reasonable for you – maybe its 15 minutes and
then you build up to 30 minutes.
4.
Develop consistency.
Once you are successful with
your walking program, you might want to consider
strength training or maybe even joining a fitness
center. A lot of people buy pieces of exercise equipment
with great intentions and never use them. A fitness
center offers an environment of other people who
share a common goal. Once you meet other people,
and begin to create a social circle, people get used
to seeing you there. You create a sense of accountability;
other people start expecting you to be there. And
the different types of activity available in a fitness
center can break the monotonous routine of walking
outside every day. You can choose to swim, run track,
ride bikes, play basketball, do aerobics, weight
train, or much more.
Exercise
really is necessary. Take steps now to develop a
workable program. Don’t
let a sudden loss of health be your motivation to get
moving.
Jo
Ann Fore welcomes your comments about this article or suggestions
for material you would like to see in future articles.
Email her at: JoAnnFore@msn.com. A
Better You is published every Saturday.
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