Just today my sister Stephanie and I were walking up the hill from the Bailey Library on campus to the Student Center to grab lunch at Rocky's; mind you, my sister is a relatively healthy individual, but she does not exercise vigorously on a regular basis. As we were taking the short haul up the hill, she mentioned to me "man, this hike is killing me! I'm tired already!" this sparked my knowledge in physical activity and health, and gave me a chance to educate her on how engaging in vigorous exercise can help increase your blood flow, increase the amount of oxygen in your blood, boost your energy level, relieve stress, and much more! This scenario also gave me an idea to blog. So, what exactly does physical activity and exercise do for you? Well, exercise is actually it's own prevention and treatment medicine. Exercise has been proven to help prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, certain forms of cancer, joint/bone pain, and more; it has also been shown to help treat these certain illnesses and hindrances so you can live a more full, pain-free life. Exercise has also been scientifically proven to provide you with more energy during your day, help you pay better attention in class (leading to better understanding of content, better test scores, and better grades), and help you to get better sleep at night. The reason my sister was so tired from walking up the hill was that as she is not used to regular activity, her cardiovascular endurance is low, causing her heart to pump more blood with less activity, making her short of breath, and causing her to be more easily tired. Convinced yet? If not, how about exercise as a stress management technique? Not only is physical activity great for your blood flow, your heart, your immune system, the prevention and treatment of illnesses and diseases, but it is also a great mechanism for helping to deal with the stress that we encounter in our everyday lives. So, now you want to exercise? You're probably asking yourself how much, or what is the dose of this magical medicine. Well, it's simple. Engage yourself in at least 150 minutes of moderate activity each week (activities such as walking, light hiking, jogging, etc.); in other words, activities that do not meet your target heart rate zone, but increase your level of movement, exercise, and slightly elevate your heart rate. This can be as easy as parking your car farther away from your destination so you walk more, mowing the lawn, or cutting down on the TV/sitting around time. As for vigorous activity, engage yourself in at least 75 minutes of aerobic physical activity/exercise each week. These are activities that get you into your target heart rate zone, such as running, biking, hiking, swimming, etc. But don't just take my word for it, these are the FITT guidelines for aerobic activity and recommendations from the CDC! So, are you willing to spend just a few more minutes each day doing something that will help you live a longer, happier, healthier, more enjoyable life? Steph is!
Excited for exercise!
I may not exercise a lot, but a lot of the time I do exercise I could credit to Matt. He motivated me to join a gym and keeps trying to get me to run a marathon with him. After talking today I feel even more inspired to exercise so I can have more energy to accomplish my goals. If only the ARC was free for alumni ;)
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