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.
What exercise can do for you
Millions of Americans simply aren't moving enough to meet the minimum threshold for good health — that is, burning at least 700 to 1,000 calories a week through physical pursuits. 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 has four components: aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility training, and balance exercises. Each benefits your body differently.
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, including walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling. I recommend working out at moderate intensity when you perform aerobic exercise — brisk walking that quickens your breathing is one example. This level of activity is safe for almost everyone and provides the desired health benefits. Additional health benefits may flow from increased intensity.
Protecting bone with strength training
Strength or resistance training, such as elastic-band workouts and the use of weight machines or free weights, is vital for building muscle and protecting bone.
Bones lose calcium and weaken with age, but strength training can help slow or sometimes even reverse 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 a lower risk of falling and injuring yourself. Also, 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 exercises
Balance tends to erode over time, and regularly performing balance exercises is one of the best ways to protect against falls that lead to temporary or permanent disability. 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. Balanced-enhancing movements may be woven into other forms of exercise, such as tai chi, yoga, and Pilates.
Exercise at a glance
In a nutshell, exercise can:
reduce your chances of getting heart disease. For those who already have heart disease, exercise reduces the chances of dying from it.
Lower your risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.
Reduce your risk of colon cancer and some other forms of cancer.
Improve your mood and mental functioning.
Keep your bones strong and joints healthy.
Help you maintain a healthy weight.
Help you maintain your independence well into your later years.
4 of The Best Exercises You can Ever do
If you're not an athlete or serious exerciser — and you want to work out for your health or fit in your clothes better — the gym scene can be intimidating and overwhelming.
Members of Poulin Health & Wellness have the Luxury of having Nicholas Poulin at their residence. Free from crowds and everyone's sweat.
Just having to walk by treadmills, stationary bikes, and weight machines can be enough to make you head straight back home to the couch.
Yet some of the best physical activities for your body don't require the gym or ask you to get fit enough to run a marathon. These "workouts" can do wonders for your health. They'll help keep your weight under control, improve your balance and range of motion, strengthen your bones, protect your joints, and even ward off memory loss.
No matter your age or fitness level, these activities are some of the best exercises you can do and will help you get in shape and lower your risk for disease:
1. Swimming
You might call swimming the perfect workout. The buoyancy of the water supports your body and takes the strain off painful joints so you can move them more fluidly. "Swimming is good for individuals with arthritis because it's less weight-bearing," explains Nicholas Poulin, Founder of Poulin Health & Wellness.
Research has found that swimming can also improve your mental state and put you in a better mood. Water aerobics is another option. These classes help you burn calories and tone up.
2. Tai chi
This Chinese martial art that combines movement and relaxation is good for both body and mind. In fact, it's been called "meditation in motion." Tai chi is made up of a series of graceful movements, one transitioning smoothly into the next.
Because the classes are offered at various levels, tai chi is accessible — and valuable — for people of all ages and fitness levels. "It's particularly good for older people because balance is an important component of fitness, and balance is something we lose as we get older," Nicholas says. Take a class to help you get started and learn the proper form. You can find tai chi programs at your local YMCA, health club, community center, or senior center.
3. Strength training
If you believe that strength training is a macho, brawny activity, think again. Lifting light weights won't bulk up your muscles, but it will keep them strong. "If you don't use muscles, they will lose their strength over time. Muscle also helps burn calories. "The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, so it's easier to maintain your weight," says Nicholas, to other exercise, strength training may also help preserve brain function in later years. Before starting a weight training program, be sure to learn the proper form.
Nicholas recommends working with a Fitness Expert who can critique your form, reps, sets, and pace. Start light, you should be able to lift the weights ten times with ease. After a couple of weeks, increase that by a pound or two. If you can easily lift the weights through the entire range of motion more than 12 times, move up to slightly heavier weight. (How Sleep Can Help You Build Muscle)
4. Walking
Walking is simple yet powerful. It can help you stay trim, improve cholesterol levels, strengthen bones, keep blood pressure in check, lift your mood, and lower your risk for a number of diseases (diabetes and heart disease, for example). Several studies have shown that walking and other physical activities can improve memory and resist age-related memory loss. All you need is a well-fitting and supportive pair of shoes. Start with walking for about ten to fifteen minutes at a time. Over time, you can start to walk farther and faster, until you're walking for 30 to 60 minutes on most days.