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You just put in a good 10 hour day in front of your computer screen, and the last thing you want to do is exercise. Let’s see, exercise, and improve your fitness level, or sit down with a glass of wine and watch your favorite evening television show. What would you do?

Seventy percent of individuals know they should exercise, but
choose the wine and the television program instead.

Do you know this simple daily decision can end up being detrimental to your health? According to the USCDC, 54.1% of adults don’t do the minimum level of exercise or physical activity recommended for wellness. The slogan “use it or lose it” has never been more true.

The simple innocent choice of not exercising has shown, in studies, to promote 10 serious health conditions you don’t ever want to develop. The bottom line is physical inactivity has a lot of unhealthy implications even at our bodies cellular level. At the cellular level, inactivity decreases
the ability to transfer oxygen from your blood stream to your cells, and also decreases the number of power activating mitochondria. However, the worst cost of not exercising or being physically active can result in the following 10 devastating conditions:

1. CANCER - Studies have shown that fitness enthusiastic men and women who are physically active have a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of colon cancer compared to individuals who are inactive.

2. DIABETES - Studies show lack of regular physical exercise increases insulin sensitivity. Diabetes is considered the “sedentary disease” which is striking people at an alarming rate. If it is not controlled, it can destroy the body’s organs.

3. HEART - Lack of consistent physical activity, over time, decreases the function of the heart muscle, affects the blood vessels, including the large aortic artery to the veins and small capillaries. According to many studies, scientists have good reason to believe that regular exercise protects the
heart.

4. STROKE - Regular exercisers are 25% less likely to have a stroke than their sedentary counterparts. Being fit lowers blood pressure, raises HDL cholesterol, and reduces the risk of blood clots.

5. BRAIN - People who are physically active, according to solid evidence, are at lower risk for cognitive decline and dementia.

6. MUSCLES - If you don’t exercise on a regular basis, you are at risk of losing some 6 percent of your muscles mass every decade of life from the age of 30 on. This also translates into a 10 - 15 percent loss of strength per decade. Once again, if you don’t use the muscle, you will lose the muscle quickly.

7. OSTEOPOROSIS - Fragile bones cause more than 1.5 million fractures each year in the U.S. Bone is like muscle, if you stress it, it responds. If you don’t, you gradually lose its strength, and increase your chances of breaking them. Regular weekly strength training can help prevent osteoporosis, and decrease your chances of breaking a bone.

8. MENTAL HEALTH - People who don’t exercise on a regular basis are more prone to develop depression. According to a recent study, people who were more active were nearly 20 percent less likely to be diagnosed with depression over the next five years than less active people. Fitness conscious individuals also generally display an improved self esteem, or self image.

9. WEIGHT - If you are inactive, year in and year out, you will eventually gain weight and lose fitness which increases the chance of a heart attacks, and diabetes.

10. IMMUNE SYSTEM - Moderate amounts of exercise reduces the
risk of upper respiratory infection. Regular exercise may boost
immune function.

Now I would like to ask that same question I asked above. What
would you do? Wine and television, or physical activity?

Now for the good news! In as little as 30 minutes of exercise or
fitness work each day, you can significantly decrease your chances of developing any of these horrible conditions mentioned above. This is the best “medicine” any doctor can possibly prescribe!

I hope I have encouraged you to become more physically
active today, and beyond. Your quality of life depends upon
it. Consider these the most important words you will hear
today!

Remember, you have a choice. Make the fitness choice.
_______________________________________________

For information on how to develop a fitness program
which delivers twice the results in half the time, visit
Wellness Word Multimedia Newsletter at http://www.WellnessWord.com
________________________________________________

*** Attention: Ezine Editors / Website Owners ***
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine, Blog, Autoresponder,or on your website as long as the links, and resource box are not altered in any way.

Jim O’Connor, Beverly Hills celebrity fitness consultant, has conducted thousands of personal fitness consultations with celebrities, business executives, and highly motivated
individuals throughout Los Angeles. He is the Chief Exercise Physiologist for Wellness WORD, LLC, a health, fitness, and nutrition promotion company. Jim is the author of a well
known, world wide multimedia newsletter called Wellness WORD, published online every other week promoting the health and fitness truth. He also is the author of a popular
ebook called Home Gym Shopping Secrets. Get The Wellness WORD “Multimedia” Newsletter delivered every other week for NO CHARGE to your inbox, and find out what the neat multimedia tricks Jim uses.

http://www.WellnessWord.com
http://www.HomeGymShoppingSecrets.com

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A RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP

There seems to be an almost magical relationship between exercise and a healthy (or at least improved) self-image. Research shows that one of the best predictors (not the only one, but one of the best) of whether someone will achieve their fitness goals is a key aspect of self-image called self-efficacy. Self efficacy is the degree to which you believe you’re able to control what you do, and what happens to you).

The higher someone’s self-efficacy, the better their chances of starting and sticking to an exercise programme. At the same time, one of the most well documented psychological effects of regular exercise is a marked improvement in self-efficacy. The longer we engage in regular exercise, the better we feel about ourselves. This means is the better our self-esteem, the more likely we are to exercise, and the more our self-esteem rises, so the more we want to exercise and so on. Although the conclusions are fairly clear, there doesn’t seem to be much study of why the relationship exists. There are, however, a lot of theories.

PHYSICAL REASONS

Firstly, there are the biochemical results of exercise (see our article on Exercise and Stress for a more in-depth look at these). Have you noticed that a given situation can look totally different depending on how good you feel physically? From the flood of endorphins through your bloodstream to the flushing out of stress hormones, a good workout (or even just a good walk) makes your body feel wonderful. This, in its turn, tends to improve the way you view yourself - just as it would improve the way you viewed any other situation.

Continuing on this line, I want you to try something. Hunch your shoulders, cross your arms across your chest, look down at the ground, scowl, and say ‘I feel in control.’ Not very convincing? That’s because an estimated 80% of our communication is non-verbal, and this applies internally as well. Now try sitting up, putting your shoulders back, taking a couple of deep breaths, and repeating the experiment. Different? Now you’re communicating a totally different non-verbal message. Then consider that exercise helps strengthen your muscles and improve your posture - all of which communicates nonverbally to your mind how you’re feeling.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS

Moving away from the physical, there are psychological reasons that reaching a specific exercise goal would increase self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is best improved by doing things. Every time you do something you haven’t been able to do before, the part of you that holds your beliefs about what you’re capable of (your self-efficacy) has to change to incorporate this new piece of information. So every time you achieve a new goal, your self-efficacy increases. This makes you more likely to set and achieve new goals, simply because, having tasted success, you know it’s possible.

Then there’s the way that other people react to the results of your exercise programme. You might get compliments on the physical effects - perhaps you’re losing weight, looking less tired, or suddenly have more energy. Or, what you’re actually *doing* might draw positive comments. A friend might say ‘You’re so good - you’ve kept this programme up for months now!’ Someone might approach you at the gym and tell you they admire your dedication. (For extra ’self-esteem brownie points’, look for opportunities to *give* these kinds of compliments sincerely to other people. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel about yourself). Getting compliments from other people isn’t the best reason to take up exercise - but if you surround yourself with supportive people, they *will* notice the difference - and any compliments they give you are a nice side-effect!

Lastly, there’s a reason I haven’t seen anyone else mention, but it’s such a big one for me that it needs to be mentioned. Exercising, by its nature, requires us to get rid of all our makeup, our tailored-to-hide-every-flaw suits, and everything else we hide behind to fit the magazine-imposed restrictions for beauty. And while letting that go can feel intimidating, it can also be incredibly freeing. Because exercising does the exactly same thing to everyone else.

If you want to once and for all destroy the illusion that everyone else but you looks like a model under their clothes, stand in a gym changing room and really *look* at the bodies there. There will be women who are ‘too skinny’, ‘too short’, ‘too fat’ - too ‘whatever’ to fit magazine standards - and most of them will be wandering around totally un-self-consciously, with far more important things to think about than the ‘flaws’ in their own, or each other’s bodies. *This* is reality. *This* is what healthy women - of all shapes and sizes - look like. And when this realisation finally sinks in, it can be more freeing than any pat assurances that ‘everyone’s shape is different’.

THE BOTTOM LINE?

So what’s the bottom line? Well, it’s wonderful news - both for those of us who have difficulty sticking to a workout programme, and for those of us who know our self-image could use a little TLC. Work on your self-image, even a little, and you’re going to want to exercise more to take better care of yourself. Add that little bit more exercise into your weekly routine, and you’re going to see your self-image improving. Work on them both - just a little - at the same time, and watch the magic truly happen!

If you have any questions about this week’s article, please don’t hesitate to contact me on mailto:tanja@optimumlife.co.nz. Otherwise, until next time, may every day bring you closer to your Optimum Life.

Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner

Optimum Life’s Tanja Gardner is a Personal Trainer and Stress Management Coach whose articles on holistic health and relaxation have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. To read more articles like this one, please subscribe to Optimum Fitness News at http://optimumlife.co.nz/Newsletter Signup.htm. To find out more about how you could benefit from online personal training, please visit http://www.trainerforce.com/optimumlife/ . To find out more about holistic fitness and stress management please visit http://optimumlife.co.nz, or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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