TOO MUCH COUCH TIME IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!
When our staff looked at the title to this post, some admitted that this one brought on a great deal of guilt. The reason for the guilt is that none of us (except Steve Conley, NMP’s founder) have anything remotely like a regular exercise routine. We’re not exactly couch potatoes; we’re more like workaholics who use work as an excuse not to exercise.
We’re not alone in our failure to exercise regularly, unfortunately. According to an article published AIMS Public Health the proportion of Black youth reporting regular physical activity ranged from 33% to 52%; and of Black adults, 27% to 52%.
This news is distressing for us personally, and has overall disturbing implications. A Harvard Medical School article reminds us of what many of us already know: exercise is critical to our overall well-being.
“If you’re physically active, your heart gets trained to beat slower and stronger, so it needs less oxygen to function well; your arteries get springier, so they push your blood along better; and your levels of “good” HDL cholesterol go up.
It’s also not much of a surprise that physical activity helps prevent diabetes. Muscles that are used to working stay more receptive to insulin, the hormone that ushers blood sugar into cells, so in fit individuals blood sugar levels aren’t as likely to creep up.
But exercise as a soldier in the war against cancer? It seems to be, and on several fronts: breast, colon, endometrial, perhaps ovarian. The effect of physical activity on breast cancer prevention may be stronger after menopause than before, although some research suggests that it takes quite a lot to make a difference: four to seven hours of moderate to vigorous activity a week. Three studies have found that if you’ve had colon cancer or breast cancer, physical activity reduces the chances of it coming back.
Think exercising takes too much of your time? Think again. It won’t. Want to see 5 simple exercises you can do daily and won’t take much time. They will help you sleep better, and keep health concerns at bay, while also boosting your self-confidence. Download this free 2-page document.
To top things off, moving the body seems to help the brain. Several studies have found that exercise can reduce the symptoms of depression, and it changes the brain in ways similar to antidepressant medications. In old age, physical activity may delay the slide of cognitive decline into dementia, and even once that process has started, exercise can improve certain aspects of thinking.”
It’s really not hard to get some exercise in every day, and it does not require expensive equipment to do it. Examples of exercises you can do without a gym membership or expensive equipment are push-ups, skipping rope, stretches, and crunches. In as little as 10 minutes a day, you’ll notice a huge difference in how you look and feel.
Do you want more tips and guides for getting rid of pain; eating familiar, delicious food that supports health and wellness; getting in touch with our roots (no pun intended) with oils and herbs; and learning about cutting edge therapies that restorative and help manage ailments? Subscribe for free to our monthly NMP magazine.