Improve Your Health

  Exercise for a longer, healthier life

Forget what you’ve heard about aging. And while you’re at it, ignore your own pre-conceived notions. Reduced functionality, inevitable health problems and aches and pains aren’t as much about aging as they are about inactivity. The less we use our bodies, the more they’ll punish us for it.

Exercise isn’t just for body-conscious 20-year-olds, it’s for any woman who wants to ensure she’s around long enough and will be healthy enough to enjoy the golden years. Keeping in shape offers rewards that go far beyond a toned body and trim physique - I’m talking of course about improved physical and mental health.

Health benefits of exercise

• Lower blood pressure and cholesterol - Protecting your heart has never been so easy. Whether you use exercise as a preventative measure or a way to manage blood pressure or cholesterol levels that have already gotten out of hand, you’ll be surprised by how beneficial it can be. Moderate physical activity can actually lower bad cholesterol, known as LDL, and raise levels of the good stuff, HDL. Heart disease, heart attack and stroke risks can be decreased. Vigorous exercise can strengthen the heart and help it work more efficiently.
• Get your breath back - Have trouble climbing a flight of stairs with a laundry basket, taking your kids to the park or doing much of anything that involves a pace quicker than a shuffle? The fact that you have trouble breathing may keep you from getting involved in fitness, which is unfortunate because that’s the only way your going to solve the problem. Start with walking or light cycling. Once the activity you’ve chosen becomes easier you can gradually up your pace. Before long the endurance will transfer into your daily activities.
• Prevent osteoporosis - Strength training is one of the best ways for a woman to ensure her bones stay strong and healthy no matter what age she’s at. Lifting weights or using resistance bands as little as twice a week can prevent osteoporosis and even add to your bone density if it’s already reduced.
• Combat diabetes - Studies have shown that people at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes only need to walk for 30 minutes, five days a week to cut that risk in half. Two and a half hours a week to prevent a disease that can lead to blindness, kidney failure, amputation and even death seems like a pretty good trade-off.
  

If everything just mentioned was written on the back on a pill bottle people would be rushing out to buy it, and willing to spend a good portion of their hard earned money. The good news is, the wonder drug known as fitness is free and you don’t have to make an impossible commitment, just 30 minutes most days of the week.