Exercising and Keeping Your Health Up

Dec. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- You probably hear all the time that you need to exercise. There is a good reason for this: exercise can help prevent and reduce the severity of many health issues such as diabetes, obesity, depression, and cardiovascular disease. Exercise does so many good things for us, yet most people still neglect this so important aspect of our health. Just a few minutes of exercise per day can revolutionize how we feel. With this in mind, it’s amazing that more people do not actually exercise on a regular basis.

Paradise In-Home Care and the Paradise Gardens Care Homes urge everyone to get in an adequate amount of exercise each day. Your body will see the benefits of exercise after just a few short weeks. You will be burning more calories when you start, and this will help you to maintain a healthier weight without even dieting.

The mental benefits of exercise cannot be understated. Exercising releases endorphins into your body which create a temporary sense of euphoria, sometimes called “runner’s high.” But the mental benefits go way beyond this. Exercise makes your brain cells more receptive to receiving messages. It increases serotonin levels in your brain. These neurotransmitters act in a way that enables brain cells to better send electric and chemical impulses to each other. Increased serotonin levels let brains cells communicate more readily and this can help fight depression and anxiety.

Exercise can also ward off some forms of dementia. Your chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease significantly decrease when you start exercising on a regular basis. If you already have Alzheimer’s, you can slow down its spread with regular activity.

It doesn’t even have to be super intense exercise. A walk of 30 minutes per day should be more than enough to help you get on your way toward a healthier lifestyle. If you have questions or concerns about what types of exercise are safe and healthy for you to partake in, you should always consult a physician. Medical professionals will be able to guide you in the right direction and make sure that you are doing more good than harm to yourself.

IF you are looking for activities to do in order to help yourself out, you don’t have to look too far. Start with the things you enjoy doing. If you like being out in nature, make sure you take a daily walk through a local park and soak in the birds and the trees as you stroll along. Or maybe you like beautifying your home. Take a few minutes each day to go outside and tend to your gardening. Even though it might be fun, these activities still count as exercise.  

It really is in your best interests to stay creative with your exercise routines and keep them fun. The late philosopher and cardiologist Dr. George Sheehan commented in his book Running and Being that exercise should be like playtime for adults. When exercise is fun, we look forward to it each day and we are much more likely to get off our bottoms and do it. Exercise should never be a chore. Even though we might not actually want to do it each day—everyone has days like this—we should not dread it. On the worst of days we might meet our exercise with a little reluctance, but this should disappear once we are actually doing it and realize just how fun it actually is.

Exercising is great for our minds and our bodies, but we need to find something that we like in order to stick with it. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do it. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions about starting up.