Fitness

Probably the most important lifetime habit is active exercise. Body parts need to be used to work will; use them or lose them. Our organs tend to rust out more quickly than they wear out.

Without exercise the muscles get flabby. The bones become brittle. The sex drive decreases. The heart muscle becomes soft; in medical terms “cardiac reserve” is lost. The weakened heart muscle is less able to respond to the needs of stressful situations. The body cells cannot use oxygen as efficiently. The reflexes decay, and falls and accidents become more likely.

Exercise is the key to many of the health risk factors. It helps with weight control, decreases cholesterol, lowers pulse and blood pressure, helps counter stress, and helps prevent depression. It increases physical reserve, improves stamina during the working day, and promotes personal confidence.

Your exercise program should be pleasurable, and almost all people obtain deep satisfaction from their exercise program after it has become a habit. It is the initial undertaking and perseverance that are difficult. You don’t have enough time? Exercise is the activity that adds time to your day by increasing your stamina, and it adds vigorous years to your life.

Exercise should be regular, at least four days a week. It should be “aerobic,” so that it conditions the heart and the oxygen-utilization mechanisms; this means steady exercise for at least fifteen minutes that is sufficient to raise the heart rate and break a sweat.

Exercise should be undertaken gradually, to allow the body to prepare for the next level of activity. You may require many months or even several years to develop your full program. Be gentle in the beginning, increasing your activity slowly as you feel the ability and the desire. If your activity is causing discomfort, you are progressing too rapidly.

The particular activity matters little and can be freely chosen. Jogging is currently the most popular, but it has no particular advantages over other forms of exercise. We have been regular runners for many years and enjoy the solitude of the fields and hills. Other people like to run on a track, whim, bicycle, walk, or jump rope. Some sports, such as basketball and soccer, can give aerobic exercise. Your particular choice is much less important than choosing an activity that gives you pleasure, one you can anticipate continuing for a long period of time. Schedule the activity into your routine: an early morning or lunchtime or cocktail-hour run, bicycling to work a time for swimming, a brisk walk after breakfast.

Even if your work is physical, you need an exercise program; you will find that it helps you to maintain your energy level at work. Very few physical jobs require aerobic exercise, and lifting and pushing at intervals throughout the day, while tiring, is not good conditioning. Then too, there are psychological benefits from exercise programs that are freely undertaken, from the voluntary decision to take personal responsibility.

People who exercise tend to become intolerable converts, and their new euphoria is often translated into missionary zeal. Many overly detailed exercise formulas have been promoted, but in fact, common sense is your best guide. The body was designed for a less pampered life than we have given it over recent decades, and it works better if used more. You need to decide how to translate this general principal into your own life.