Introduction

You knew this topic was coming, didn't you? Everyone in health care says it and everyone in the world knows it: to be healthy you just need to "eat right and exercise." We've certainly covered "eating right," but what about "exercise" and its costs? From spending time and energy on the actual activity to losing flexibility forgetting to stretch. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quoted, "Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction."

Muscle is Expensive

Our body doesn't really like to keep excess muscles around. It just takes too much energy to maintain muscle. That's why people with more muscle have a higher metabolism: they've got more energy-hungry muscle to feed. Thus, when we don't use our muscles, our body happily lets it go. All of our tissues and cells are expensive. Our body is undergoing constant repair and replacement of cells. When old cells get shabby, our body munches them up and replaces with a shiny new cell. However, our body is not stupid. It replaces cells with an equal or lesser cell.

Nutrition Budget

Imagine you had a set budget for the year to replace your old appliances. If you had a toaster that rarely got used, and a microwave that got used all the time, where would you put your money? In the best microwave you could buy. But, what about the toaster? You'd give it as little money as you needed to get by. Our body does this all the time, budgeting where to put the nutrients to build new cells. And it doesn't put them in cells that don't get used. If you don't use your lungs to breath heavy during exercise, they start to lose elasticity at the top (up near our ears). If we don't do push-ups for a few weeks or months or years, we certainly notice our muscle mass has faded away. If we don't challenge our heart with cardiovascular exercise, it gets lazy. Our joints and bones and muscles all weaken if we don't use them. I guess the old saying is true: use it or lose it!

Made to Move

We were made to move. We know this because we have joints that bend and open and close. We also know this because we've studied the way humans have lived during ancient history. Scientists believe that humans who lived as hunters and gatherers walked between five and nine miles per day and early farmers had to do at least five or six hours of physical labor per day to survive. Even though we aren't hunters and gatherers anymore, or laborers on a farm, we still have the same body as people from a few thousand years ago...a body that needs to move to be well.

Physical Activity and Inflammation

Studies show that people who are physically active on a regular basis have lower blood levels of inflammation! Right after we are physically active, our blood markers for inflammation rise. During this period immediately following exercise, our body is busy repairing any damage that has occurred during exercise. When they study the blood of people who are physically active over the course of years, they find lower levels of inflammation in the blood.

Exercise is Worth it

Sure, it's hard. It takes time. It takes planning. It takes effort. And it offers the best benefit in the world: the ability to participate in our own life. We need strength, flexibility, endurance, determination, discipline, positivity, courage, faith and humility to be the best human we can be and exercise help improve all of these.

Tips for Exercise

1. Fit in shorter bouts of exercise every day. Humans are terribly lazy and bad procrastinators. And we think we'll have more time tomorrow (but don't). Planning not to exercise today because you really truly believe you'll do it tomorrow is a recipe for disaster. Make yourself do a little every day instead of a lot tomorrow. You'll be much more successful.
2. Do what you love. Please don't try to be a runner if you hate it. Take a dance class or chop firewood. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you're moving every day. Be creative, just do something. E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y.
3. Mix it up. Don't just try one sort of exercise. You'll get bored and hurt. Mix it up. Walk with a friend on Monday. Look up High Intensity Interval Training on YouTube on Tuesday. Do calisthenics on Wednesday. Ride your bike on Thursday. Go dancing on Friday. Play Frisbee on Saturday. Do heavy yard work on Sunday. Do it!