Stay Young Stay Healthy - A guide to anti-aging techniques that turn back the clock

CHAPTER 2: THE THREE TYPES OF EXERCISE THAT STOP AGING

Studies have shown that living a sedentary lifestyle actually presents a higher risk for heart disease than high cholesterol or even smoking! No matter what your age, whether you’re closing in on 40, racing past 50 or 60, or older, you will improve your health and mood by exercising regularly. Even nursing home residents in their 80s and 90s became stronger and more independent through exercise. You’ll feel better and have much more energy than you did before.

Some of us are better than others at sticking to our exercise plans, but the benefits of regular physical activity are almost too numerous to list here. Regular exercise will keep excess weight off, put calcium in your bones and keep them healthy, keep your cholesterol down, make your metabolism more efficient, and help clean your body of toxins through sweating and regular bowel movements.

Even better, regular exercise strengthens your heart, lowers your cholesterol, lowers your stress, and helps you to sleep better. When you’re in good physical shape, your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and even some kinds of cancer lower dramatically. It also has been shown to help reduce depression.

Sound good? And you don’t have to become a marathon runner or torture yourself through an Arnold Schwarzenegger-style bodybuilding program in order to enjoy the benefits – just 30 minutes of moderate physical activity several times a week will do the trick. Just do something – anything to get started, even taking short walks every day.

If you’ve never exercised regularly, or have been sedentary for quite a while, you should have a routine medical checkup before starting any new program (just to be on the safe side!).

Once you’ve gotten your doctor’s okay – take it slow to begin with! Slow and steady wins the race, as the old saying goes. It’s much more effective to start a reasonable program that you’ll actually stay with for the long run, rather than racing out of the gate like gangbusters and burning yourself out after a week. Thirty minutes a day is all you need, and it doesn’t even have to be all at one time. Taking the stairs instead of using the elevator, mowing the lawn, even chores around the house, can easily add up to 30 minutes over the course of a day.

Before starting your activity, if it’s going to be anything more strenuous than walking, it’s a good idea to spend between 5 and 15 minutes stretching. This gives you more flexibility and ease of movement, and decreases your risk of straining your muscles or otherwise injuring yourself. A similar period of stretching after your exercise is useful for cooling yourself down and relaxing.

It’s best to vary your exercise routine. Not only is this more beneficial to your health, you’ll be much less likely to injure yourself or get bored. You should be working hard enough that it’s difficult to carry on a normal conversation at the same time, but you shouldn’t be working so hard that you’re gasping for every breath.

Also try to find something that you enjoy doing. Obviously, that will make you that much more likely to continue doing it.

Try to mix these three types of exercise: aerobic, strength, and flexibility. Aerobic exercise helps to strengthen your heart, increases your lung capacity, and improves your blood circulation. Strength conditioning helps make you stronger and increases your metabolism and bone density. Flexibility exercises, besides helping you to move more easily (obviously!), keep your joints in good shape and make it less likely that they will be stiff and painful as you get older.

One way to do this is to join your local health club. Then you’ll have access to a wide range of stationary bicycles, stair-steppers, and other aerobic machines. Plus, there are usually qualified trainers on staff who can help you design a personal program that’s safe and appropriate for you. But you can also do a very effective exercise program at home, either by yourself or with a friend or spouse. Then the only financial investment you’ll have is for a pair of decent athletic shoes.

The better condition you are in, the more efficient your body will be at burning fat. So, while you still want to keep healthy dietary habits, if you want to lose weight it will be far more effective if you exercise regularly and eat what you like, rather than starving yourself.

Each of three types of exercise are explored more fully below:

Aerobic:
The best way to strengthen your heart muscle is through cardiovascular, or aerobic, exercise. This is activity that will get your heart rate pumped up to between 60 and 90 percent of your recommended maximum heart rate. (To figure your maximum rate, just take 220 and subtract your current age.)

While your body does burn calories constantly through normal functions such as breathing and blood circulation, if you do anything more exciting, your body needs to find some extra energy. It does this by burning glycogen, which is the carbohydrates and fat stored in your body. The most efficient way of burning fat is medium-intensity activities that can be done for a longer period, such as swimming or power walking.

Almost any physical activity you can do will help. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park a little further away from your destination than usual, walk or ride your bike instead of driving. There are ways you can insert regular exercise into your regular life in an organic way – for instance, if you normally watch a lot of TV, get a stationary bicycle or a treadmill and put it in front of the TV, and use it while you’re watching. Thirty minutes a day is all you really need, and three 10-minute bursts of activity will work as well as a single 30-minute workout. The key is to take action and just do something – it almost doesn’t matter what that something is.

If you want something a bit more challenging, you can attend one of the wide varieties of aerobic dance classes at your local health club or community center. The important thing is to find the activities that you enjoy doing, and that fit your current lifestyle and fitness level.

If you have illnesses that restrict your activities, talk to your doctor – there’s most likely something that you can do. For instance, if you have arthritis, swimming is a very beneficial activity that won’t strain or injure your joints.

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