Exercise and Health
by Patrick Austin

The Connection Between Exercise and Health

There is a definite connection between exercise and health. If you want to do something that will help every other aspect of a healthy lifestyle, get yourself physically fit. There is no substitute.

Exercise and health provide benefits that cannot be obtained in any other way. It is central to almost all other aspects of a healthy lifestyle. And you really don't need to suffer to do most activities. The greatest benefit of exercise and health is obtained by changing from a "sedentary" lifestyle (couch potato) to doing thirty minutes of activity a day, like running, jogging, walking, bicycling, or climbing steps.

Here are some more connections between exercise and health:

·        If you want to lose weight, exercise is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a healthy body weight.

·        If you want to stop smoking, exercise makes it a lot easier, and increases the chances of success. Talk about a connection between weight loss and health.

·        If your blood pressure, cholesterol, or glucose levels are elevated, exercise helps control every one of these processes, perhaps to the point that medications can be eliminated (under your physician's supervision of course).

·        Even if you don't have any of these health problems, exercise clearly will help your health. Regular exercise has been shown to prolong your life.

·        Let's not forget about just feeling good. Just about all of us have been on an exercise program at one time or another, and can attest that our bodies feel better. That’s because exercise and health have such a correlation.  

·        Exercise helps with so many other health issues: Arthritis, osteoporosis, breast cancer, colon cancer, Etc.

Just as achieving a healthy weight doesn't mean you need to look like a supermodel. Achieving a healthy level of physical fitness is not a matter of doing all of the things you see athletes to on television or in fitness magazines. This tends to be discouraging and make it harder to achieve a much more satisfying goal:  a healthy fitness program. Exercise and health don't need to be about mimicking an athlete to have a healthy level of activity. 

And it's not just for the young -- exercise benefits the elderly more than their younger counterparts. Exercise and health just need to be tailored to the appropriate fitness level for the individual. There’s a way for almost everyone to accomplish a health-promoting exercise program that doesn't ask too much of a busy lifestyle. You don't need expensive equipment, you don't need a personal trainer or to join a health club. You simply need to do twenty to thirty minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. This may be as simple as walking at a brisk pace. Remember, the key is just to do something and be active.

If you’d like more information about exercise and health, check out these sites:

Vitamins to help with exercise and health

Exercise melts body fat

Exercise and health for senior