| Benefits of Exercise |
What motivates me?
There are many reasons a person should workout, but one of the things that really motivated me
to get in top physical shape and help others is very personal. Several years ago, my mother was
told she was ill, but if she would exercise for just 30 minutes a day, she could extend her life by
years. Unfortunately she did not take the doctor's advice and passed in 2007. She was just 57
years old! It was a very hard time for me, and still is. What makes it worse is that her passing
could have been avoided if she would have just listened to the doctor's advice and exercised. My
goal is to help others live healthier, longer, and more fulfilled lives. -Dan
More benefits of exercise:
By: Harry Mills, Ph.D.
If the risks associated with being inactive are substantial, so too are the benefits associated with regular
exercise.
Exercise improves physical health. Physically active individuals have a much better health outlook than their
sedentary peers. Even modest regular physical activity has a positive influence on people's health and vitality. A
minimum of 20 to 30 minutes of moderate activity a day most days of the week will benefit health and assist with
weight loss. A formal workout is not necessary to have these benefits; a brisk walk will suffice (although a more
vigorous workout will suffice that much more).
Exercise reduces risks for serious illness. Exercise reduces people's chances of developing and dying of
illnesses such as heart disease. It does this by lowering illness risk factors such as triglyceride and overall
cholesterol levels, while improving the level of HDL (the "good" cholesterol which is thought to reduce the risk of
heart disease). Weight-bearing exercise and strength training activities help to maintain or increase bone mass,
reducing a person's risk for osteoarthritis and associated bone fractures. Regular exercise also lowers resting
blood pressure rates for hours after an exercise session is over. In addition, moderate exercise may significantly
reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes. Arthritics who exercise often experience more strength and flexibility
in their affected joints as well as a reduced pain levels. Furthermore, exercise may delay or prevent the
development of arthritis in other joints. Regular walking of over a mile a day has been shown to reduce the risk of
stroke significantly. Exercise even appears to reduce the risk of developing some cancers, especially cancers of
the breast and colon.
Exercise increases energy and vitality feelings. Sedentary individuals often complain of being too tired to work
out. Ironically, exercise improves people's capacity for work so that people who exercise on a regular basis
actually have more energy and greater strength and endurance for daily activities than do their sedentary peers.
The feeling of increased energy, and vitality is one of the first things people tend to notice a few weeks after
beginning to working out on a regular basis.
Exercise helps people perform activities of daily life more easily. Physically fit people are stronger, healthier and
more energetic than sedentary people. They are able to solve problems more readily, deal with stress more
effectively, think faster and remember things more efficiently. Overall, activities of daily life become less of a chore
for active people.
Exercise helps people to lose and maintain weight. An exercise session burns calories and elevates metabolic
rate both during exercise and then for hours after exercise is completed. It helps to preserve and build lean
muscle mass. It works to suppress appetite. All of these benefits work together to make exercise vital for
maintaining weight loss.
Exercise improves mood. Exercise helps people to relax, improves sleep and reduces muscular tension. That
glow of relaxation after a workout is restorative. Research shows that one of the best things a person can do
when depressed is to force themselves to exercise. The mood elevation effect is immediate.
Exercise improves self-confidence. One of the reasons many individuals do not attempt an exercise program is
because they feel they are not very athletic or coordinated. Once an exercise program is begun, however, these
same individuals discover that they are indeed able to work out successfully: gaining muscle tone and strength,
improving their stamina, and improving how they feel emotionally. These revelations are very empowering. It is
this increased sense of self confidence and improved sense of well-being that eventually becomes the
sustaining force that helps people to continue their exercise program.
Exercise provides socialization opportunities. Exercising outside the home, whether in the great outdoors, at a
gym or recreation center, in an exercise class, sport group, walking or running club, etc., all lead to encounters
with other people who also enjoy working out. New acquaintances and friendships develop readily in such
contexts. Over time, having the pleasure of one's exercise group's company becomes another reason to exercise.
Family relationships can benefit from exercise too. On days when the weather is nice the entire family may
enjoy a walk or the couple a bike ride with the children in child seats behind the parents. If the family is involved in
that very active phase of rearing young children, a parent's exercise break between work and child
responsibilities will likely help them to be a calmer, more able parent.
From: http://www.mhcdinfo.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=4380&cn=288
There are many reasons a person should workout, but one of the things that really motivated me
to get in top physical shape and help others is very personal. Several years ago, my mother was
told she was ill, but if she would exercise for just 30 minutes a day, she could extend her life by
years. Unfortunately she did not take the doctor's advice and passed in 2007. She was just 57
years old! It was a very hard time for me, and still is. What makes it worse is that her passing
could have been avoided if she would have just listened to the doctor's advice and exercised. My
goal is to help others live healthier, longer, and more fulfilled lives. -Dan
More benefits of exercise:
By: Harry Mills, Ph.D.
If the risks associated with being inactive are substantial, so too are the benefits associated with regular
exercise.
Exercise improves physical health. Physically active individuals have a much better health outlook than their
sedentary peers. Even modest regular physical activity has a positive influence on people's health and vitality. A
minimum of 20 to 30 minutes of moderate activity a day most days of the week will benefit health and assist with
weight loss. A formal workout is not necessary to have these benefits; a brisk walk will suffice (although a more
vigorous workout will suffice that much more).
Exercise reduces risks for serious illness. Exercise reduces people's chances of developing and dying of
illnesses such as heart disease. It does this by lowering illness risk factors such as triglyceride and overall
cholesterol levels, while improving the level of HDL (the "good" cholesterol which is thought to reduce the risk of
heart disease). Weight-bearing exercise and strength training activities help to maintain or increase bone mass,
reducing a person's risk for osteoarthritis and associated bone fractures. Regular exercise also lowers resting
blood pressure rates for hours after an exercise session is over. In addition, moderate exercise may significantly
reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes. Arthritics who exercise often experience more strength and flexibility
in their affected joints as well as a reduced pain levels. Furthermore, exercise may delay or prevent the
development of arthritis in other joints. Regular walking of over a mile a day has been shown to reduce the risk of
stroke significantly. Exercise even appears to reduce the risk of developing some cancers, especially cancers of
the breast and colon.
Exercise increases energy and vitality feelings. Sedentary individuals often complain of being too tired to work
out. Ironically, exercise improves people's capacity for work so that people who exercise on a regular basis
actually have more energy and greater strength and endurance for daily activities than do their sedentary peers.
The feeling of increased energy, and vitality is one of the first things people tend to notice a few weeks after
beginning to working out on a regular basis.
Exercise helps people perform activities of daily life more easily. Physically fit people are stronger, healthier and
more energetic than sedentary people. They are able to solve problems more readily, deal with stress more
effectively, think faster and remember things more efficiently. Overall, activities of daily life become less of a chore
for active people.
Exercise helps people to lose and maintain weight. An exercise session burns calories and elevates metabolic
rate both during exercise and then for hours after exercise is completed. It helps to preserve and build lean
muscle mass. It works to suppress appetite. All of these benefits work together to make exercise vital for
maintaining weight loss.
Exercise improves mood. Exercise helps people to relax, improves sleep and reduces muscular tension. That
glow of relaxation after a workout is restorative. Research shows that one of the best things a person can do
when depressed is to force themselves to exercise. The mood elevation effect is immediate.
Exercise improves self-confidence. One of the reasons many individuals do not attempt an exercise program is
because they feel they are not very athletic or coordinated. Once an exercise program is begun, however, these
same individuals discover that they are indeed able to work out successfully: gaining muscle tone and strength,
improving their stamina, and improving how they feel emotionally. These revelations are very empowering. It is
this increased sense of self confidence and improved sense of well-being that eventually becomes the
sustaining force that helps people to continue their exercise program.
Exercise provides socialization opportunities. Exercising outside the home, whether in the great outdoors, at a
gym or recreation center, in an exercise class, sport group, walking or running club, etc., all lead to encounters
with other people who also enjoy working out. New acquaintances and friendships develop readily in such
contexts. Over time, having the pleasure of one's exercise group's company becomes another reason to exercise.
Family relationships can benefit from exercise too. On days when the weather is nice the entire family may
enjoy a walk or the couple a bike ride with the children in child seats behind the parents. If the family is involved in
that very active phase of rearing young children, a parent's exercise break between work and child
responsibilities will likely help them to be a calmer, more able parent.
From: http://www.mhcdinfo.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=4380&cn=288
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