EXERCISE

Exercise is a critical function of good health and is linked with a vast array of benefits for your mind and body

EXERCISE IS NOT NATURAL!

As hunter gatherers, humans evolved to acquire and expend more energy than the apes we evolved from.

Because food has been scarce for most of human history, we also evolved to not waste unnecessary calories on anything that didn't help us with our two main aims - survival and reproduction.

Food abundance is a very recent phenomenon and so these hard wired evolutionary instincts to conserve energy and not 'waste' it on 'needless' activities are still with us.

So we didn't evolve to exercise, only to be physically active when necessary to survive.

The problem is that the incredible relative comfort of our lifestyles coupled with the abundance of readily available cheap foods, means that our natural disinclination to move unnecessarily is making us unwell.

Many of the diseases that kill us slowly today, such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, Obesity, Coronary Artery Disease and Respiratory Tract Infections can be traced to our bodies lack of physical activity.

Worldwide, physical inactivity causes about 5.3 million deaths per year—about as many as caused by smoking.

HOW DO I GET STARTED

Because exercise by definition isn’t necessary, we mostly do it for emotional or physical rewards.

Understand your 'why'. What is the reason you want to exercise, what will exercise 'give you' & how will that make you feel. The stronger the emotion you can find behind your 'why' the greater the chances of you succeeding in your exercise goals.

Commit what you plan to to someone or to a group.

Exercising with a friend or in a group is a whole lot easier than trying to do it alone.

Friends and Groups will encourage each other when we are struggling, praise each other when we succeed and help to make us accountable for turning up when we feel like not going or quitting.

Join a club. There are so many clubs available and most good ones have 'starter' groups where everyone can join at the same base level and so you won't feel out of place. A great example is the 'couch to 5K' initiative which most running clubs embrace, but if the idea of running gives you nightmares, choose something that doesn't and give it a try.

WHY BOTHER TO EXERCISE

Physical activity helps slow the aging process & promotes fitness & health.

Aging is inevitable, but the deterioration of function associated with advancing years, correlates much less strongly with age and much more with diet and exercise.

Exercise can stave off or even reverse the accumulation of excess fat, especially belly fat, a chief cause of inflammation and other health problems.

Exercise also lowers blood levels of sugar, fat, and unhealthy cholesterol that contribute to hardening of the arteries, damage proteins, and other health problems.

Exercise improves cardiovascular function, lowers levels of stress hormones, speeds up metabolism and strengthens bones.

Exercise also causes the body to produce more antioxidants than necessary, decreasing overall levels of oxidative stress.

Exercise helps improve cognitive (brain) function and helps prevent depression and other mental health conditions.

Exercise causes cells to clean out damaged proteins, lengthen telomeres, repair DNA, and more.

A single bout of exercise (but not immediately before bed) usually helps people sleep, and regular exercise is even better for good sleep.

EXERCISES' AMAZING BENEFITS

People who are fitter are about 1/2 as likely to suffer from chronic disease and, if they get sick, do so at an older age.

Adults of the same weight who are physically active have mortality (death) rates around 50% lower than those who are inactive.

Regular Exercisers have12 to 23% lower levels of mental health problems than sedentary people.

Moderate levels of physical activity lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s by 45 percent.

Regular exercisers have 27% reduced risk of cardiovascular events (such as heart attack) and 30% reduced risk of early mortality.

Modest exercisers have 13 to 20 % lower cancer rates, and those who exercise moderately or more have 25 to 30 % lower cancer rates.

3-4 hours of moderate exercise a week is likely to reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 30 to 40 percent, and both men’s and women’s risk of colon cancer by 40 to 50 percent.

People who are 80 who can walk three miles an hour have a 90% chance of living to 90, but those who can only walk one mile an hour have a 90% chance they won’t live to 90.

Going from sedentary to 60 minutes a week of exercise reduces an adults mortality risk by 30%. 3 hours a week lowers it by a further 10% and 6 hours a week,15% more.

Tips for Exercising well

Find a strong emotional reason to begin exercising ("understand your why").
Find something you enjoy doing, dancing or aerobics are just as good as the gym.
Commit your plan to a friend or group to build accountability.
Exercise with others for enjoyment, encouragement and support.
If you are currently sedentary start with 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week.
150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise per week is an ideal baseline.
Strength training is an important part of any exercise plan - aim for at least 2 sessions per week.
Walking is a great way to supplement your 'planned' exercise - 10,000 steps per day is a good target.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a fun and fast way to get fit.
Give it time - it takes 90 days to build a habit so whatever you try, commit to doing it for at least 3 months.

WHAT EXERCISE SHOULD I DO

A mixture of Aerobic (with oxygen) exercise, which relies on the oxygen you get from breathing & Anaerobic exercise (which uses the energy stored in your muscles) will help you to achieve a well rounded level of physical fitness.

Examples of Aerobic Exercises are running, swimming, cycling, dancing, skiing, aerobics and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

Aerobic exercise is also commonly known as Cardio as it utilises and improves you Cardiovascular system, strengthening your heart and helping it to more efficiently pump blood around your system.

Examples of Anaerobic Exercises are HIIT (yes it has the advantage of being both Aerobic & Anaerobic!), weightlifting, sprinting, plyometric exercises (i.e. box jumps) and resistance training (using weights or bands).

Exercising to improve your strength has a huge amount of benefits, so regardless of your age or gender, putting on or maintaining muscle should be a primary focus of your exercise routine.

Strength training, aids in weight loss, lowers inflammation, and supports your metabolic health, burning calories while providing a buffer for occasional carb binges.

Strength training also helps prevent injuries and reducing muscle decline in old age helps prevent depression and other mental health conditions.

Try to incorporate a combination of lifting, pushing, pulling and carrying weight (additional to your own body weight) in your anaerobic training routine.

Whatever combination of Aerobic (Cardio) & Anaerobic (Strength) training that you choose, make sure it is something that you enjoy doing so that exercise becomes fun for you and not a chore.

ENJOY WHATEVER YOU DO

Make it fun

HOW MUCH EXERCISE SHOULD I DO

Almost every major health organisation in the world recommend that we do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week.

This aerobic activity should be supplemented with two sessions of strength training.

Epidemiologists have calculated that this level of activity will reduce your risk of dying prematurely by 50 percent and lower your chances of getting heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and certain cancers by roughly 30 to 50 percent.

If you are currently sedentary and 150 minutes a week seems like just too much, then just 60 minutes of moderate exercise per week will reduce your chances of premature death by around 30 percent.

Trials that prescribed more than 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity exercise have been successful in reversing the effects of obesity, high blood glucose, high blood pressure, high cholesterol & high triglyceride counts.

Walking is a great way to help maintain your

fitness levels and keep the excess weight away.

10,000 steps per day is a reasonable target to

aim for.

By some measures, a few minutes of HIIT provides

as much benefit as, if not more benefit than, thirty

minutes of conventional aerobic exercise.

Children should engage in a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity per day.