Exercise to Stay Healthy

Benefits of exercise

Exercise has many benefits. Our bodies thrive on regular physical activity. Exercise has both physical and emotional rewards. Exercise can:

• Decrease your blood pressure.
• Decrease your total blood cholesterol.
• Decrease your blood sugar.

These physical effects decrease the risk of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. Exercise can also help you lose weight and keep a healthy weight.

Among the emotional benefits of exercise are:

• You feel better.
• You have more physical and emotional stamina.
• You sleep better.

Exercise affects brain chemistry. For example, exercise can help treat mild depression. It can also help you have more energy.

Finally, exercise increases the body's metabolic rate. This means that, if you exercise regularly, you burn more calories during physical activity and for several hours afterward.

Types of exercise

Aerobic exercise is repetitive, rhythmic exercise that uses your large muscles. It makes you breathe faster and gets your heart going. It increases endurance and helps your body use oxygen better. Your lungs work harder to bring in more oxygen, and your heart pumps harder to send blood to the muscles. This process strengthens your lungs, heart, bones, and muscles. Some aerobic activities that increase cardiovascular fitness are:

• walking briskly or jogging
• swimming
• climbing stairs
• bicycling
• dancing
• playing tennis
• cross-country skiing
• rowing.

Other types of exercise, such as weight lifting, stretching, and yoga, can improve muscle strength and flexibility. Such exercise improves endurance, dexterity, and balance, and increasing muscle mass increases your metabolic rate.

Exercises performed at low and moderate intensity will help you stay fit and healthy. You do not have to exercise strenuously. For example, regular, moderate activity, such as three 10-minute walks a day, reduces your risk of death from heart disease by as much as 60%.

With your healthcare provider's approval, your goal should be 30 to 90 minutes of moderate exercise a day, most days of the week. Moderate aerobic exercise is generally defined as requiring the energy it takes to walk 2 miles in 30 minutes. You may need to exercise 60 minutes a day to prevent weight gain and 90 minutes a day to lose weight. Be sure to check with your healthcare provider before starting an exercise program.

Choosing an exercise program

Before starting an exercise program, think about:

• What physical activities do you enjoy?
• Do you prefer group or individual activities?
• What kind of program fits your schedule?
• Do you have any physical conditions that affect your choice of exercise program? For example, if you have arthritis, ask your healthcare provider about ways to exercise safely and comfortably without hurting your joints.

The following table can help you plan your exercise program. It lists the average number of calories burned per hour in some common physical activities. Some of the activities can be moderate or vigorous, depending on how fast you do them.

 
Moderate Physical Activity   Calories/hr for a 154-lb Person*
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Hiking                                          370
Light gardening/yardwork                        330
Dancing                                         330
Golf (walking and carrying clubs)               330
Bicycling less than 10 miles an hour            290
Walking 3.5 miles an hour                       280
Weight lifting (general light workout)          220
Stretching or gentle yoga                       180

Vigorous Physical Activity   Calories/hr for a 154-lb Person*
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Running/jogging 5 miles per hour                590
Bicycling more than 10 miles per hour           590
Swimming (slow freestyle laps)                  510
Vinyasa yoga                                    490
Aerobics                                        480
Walking 4.5 miles per hour                      460
Heavy yard work (chopping wood)                 440
Weight lifting (vigorous effort)                440
Basketball (vigorous)                           440
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* Calories burned per hour will be higher if you weigh more 
than 154 pounds (70 kilograms) and lower if you weigh less.
Source: Adapted from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005
published by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Warm-Up and Cool-Down Exercises

Include warm-up and cool-down exercises before and after aerobic exercise. Muscles and joints that have not been used are cool. Start out walking slowly and then gradually increase the pace over a 5-minute period. If you cannot walk, try easy cycling or other activities at slow, easy paces. This gives the body time to increase blood flow to the working muscles and joints and prepare them for harder work. Then stretch your muscles and bend your joints for 5 to 10 minutes. This warms your muscles and joints by increasing the flow of blood to them. It makes them more flexible and less prone to injury. Your choice of stretches depends on the type of exercise you plan to do. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds and do not bounce.

Right after exercise, allow your heart rate to return slowly to normal. For example, walking slowly for about 5 minutes will let you cool down and allow your heart and breathing to return to normal levels. Then stretch the muscles used during your exercise. After stretching, your muscles will be more flexible and less stiff. Devote a total of 5 to 10 minutes to cooling down. You can use warm-up exercises for cool-down exercises.