The alarm goes off each morning with precise regularity and instinctively a hand goes out to stop the shrill irritation. Should I or should I not this morning – it is still so dark outside and I honestly still feel tired? Don’t feel like it?
This happens so often to all of us, and once again another day has slipped by without the body being enabled to execute what it was designed to do. As it is apparent from studies in ancient man, we were designed to walk 10 to 16 km per day, in order to find daily food and remain safe. These days on average in our western culture, activity might not even amount to a kilometer in total per day!
What are the benefits of physical activity to the human body, and why is it even more important than your food intake?
There is no better way of handling the pile of stress we carry each day than by having regular exercise – by getting outside and going for a walk, one will find nothing in daily life quite so helpful, and solutions to problems become apparent and easier to solve. By walking regularly, one gets fitter and fitter, and correspondingly more healthy – your body is responding to what it is designed for! If we pursue this most powerful de-stressor, which is also free, our glass will always rather be half full than half empty!
Nothing speeds up aging of any machine more quickly than neglect and lack of use – the human body is no different! The wonder of physical activity is that it slows the aging process, including that of the brain, ones computer, and there is nothing more alarming that losing one’s memory and cognitive ability as one ages!
A sure way to fight off depression is to get into a daily habit of some form of exercise – a natural, inexpensive way of changing the hormonal environment inside your body, which in turn changes the way you think and feel about yourself, and all around you.
Bone density in both men and women decreases with aging, and hence the danger of falling and breaking a hip or various bones as one gets older. Regular weight bearing exercise is a powerful tool to slow down osteopenia and ward off osteoporosis.
When you exercise regularly, you start to feel so good about yourself, that you begin to care more about what you eat and drink, and you begin to make a point of finding out more ways to remain healthy. All this leads to better weight control, an improvement in insulin sensitivity and a decrease in blood pressure.
Your body rejoices at all these improvements in its physiology, and you marvel and realize once again, some of the wonders of physical activity on the human body! So let’s go out and get the body moving!
