Exercise is Medicine

Exercise is essential to health. Especially your cardiovascular health. Exercise! As the Nike company said in the late 80's, "Just do it!"

If you are living a sedentary lifestyle, start with some walking or swimming. Even moderate exercise, just 10-20 minutes a day three to four times per week will have an astounding effect on your health and well-being pretty much immediately. If you exercise a little, it's time to rev up your workouts.

Remember, your heart is a muscle and it needs cardiovascular exercise to work at its best. Whatever fitness level you are on, take it to the next level. If you are already working out, try something new, extend your workout by 15 minutes, or add another day to your routine.

Whatever you choose for exercise, make it something you enjoy and you will have a much better chance of sticking with it - and that is the most important thing!

10,000 steps

We have all heard the proverb that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, but what if you take 10,000 steps? Recent research has shown that by taking 10,000 steps throughout the course of a day, you can lose weight, improve your cardiovascular health and achieve the fitness benefits of thirty to sixty minutes of exercise per day.

Eat less, eat better and move more. That's the quick summary released released in 2005, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The guidelines, available at the Healthier US Gov web site, for the first time, added recommendations for "achieving adequate exercise". These guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise most days.

The goal of taking 10,000 steps in a day is a rough equivalent of the Surgeon General's recommendation. It should be enough to reduce your risk for disease and help you lead a longer, healthier life. But not everyone should start right out trying to get 10K a day. Be sure and take a comfortable, gradual approach if you are just starting out.

Many health and fitness experts advocate wearing pedometers so your sure your getting in your 10,000 steps per day.

To get started with the 10,000 steps, use a good pedometer and start your regular day. You may be surprised at how much, or how little you actually walk in a day. If you are basically seated at a desk for the duration of the day, you will probably have to pick up the pace considerably to get your 10,000 steps in each day. If you have a more physical job, such as a mail carrier or a waitress, you may be close to, or even over the 10,000 steps. You should make a higher goal to see a difference in weight and fitness level. For most people, about 2,000 steps are equal to one mile, so if you are hitting the goal of 10,000 steps, you are walking nearly five miles per day. If you find that you cannot get to 10,000 right away or have been leading a sedentary lifestyle for many years, talk to your healthcare provider to see how you should proceed. Making and achieving smaller goals along the way will help you reach and maybe even exceed that magic number of 10,000.

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Exercise is Medicine

10,000 steps

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