Medicine and Man

What is exercise?

Exercise is also known as physical activity and includes anything that gets you moving, such as walking, dancing, or working in the yard.  You can earn the benefits of being physically active without going to a gym, playing sports, or using fancy equipment.

Types of exercises

1. Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise increases your heart rate, works your muscles, and raises your breathing rate. For most people, it’s best to aim for a total of about 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week. If you haven’t been very active recently, you can start out with 5 or 10 minutes a day and work up to more time each week.

Examples of aerobic exercise:
• Take a brisk walk (outside or inside on a treadmill)
• Go dancing
• Take a low-impact aerobics class
• Swim or do water aerobic exercises
• Try ice-skating or roller-skating
• Play tennis
• Stationary bicycle indoors

2. Strength Training

Strength training, done several times a week, helps build strong bones and muscles and makes everyday chores like carrying groceries easier for you. With more muscle, you burn more calories, even at rest.

Here are some ways to do it:
• Join a class to do strength training with weights or elastic bands
• Lift light weights at home

3. Flexibility exercise

Flexibility exercises, also called stretching, help keep your joints flexible and reduce your chances of injury during other activities. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes helps your body warm up and get ready for aerobic activities such as walking or swimming.

4. Being active throughout the day

In addition to formal exercise, there are many opportunities to be active throughout the day. Being active helps burns calories. The more you move around, the more energy you’ll have.

These strategies can help you increase your activity level:
• Walk instead of drive whenever possible
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Work in the garden, or do some housecleaning every day
• Park at the far end of the shopping center lot and walk to the store

Health benefits of exercise.

1. Lowers Blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol
2. Reduces risk for heart disease and stroke
3. Strengthens the heart, muscles and bones
4. Helps insulin work better
5. Improves blood circulation
6. Keeps the joints flexible
7. Maintains optimal weight and helps to loose weight

Reference: American Diabetes Association

This entry was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2005 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Health Tips, Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.