by Jennifer Cole 

 

How many times have you heard in your lifetime that you need to exercise? Probably too many to count, right? Have you ever wondered why exactly it is so vital to your health?

The most obvious reason we exercise would be to help manage our weight. Simply put, if you exercise you burn calories! If you can burn more calories than you consume, than you see yourself losing weight. Some of you may be at a weight that your happy with and may think that you don’t need to exercise. I’m here to show you some other reasons to get off that couch - even if you’re that perfect size and can eat anything you want! I’ll try not to be too jealous of you!

First off it strengthens your cardiovascular system as well as your respiratory system. When you exercise, your making sure that ‘bad’ cholesterol doesn’t build up in your blood AND it helps to lower your blood pressure. I know a lot of us should exercise on that reason alone, present company included! When we exercise, we’re actually training our body to take in oxygen a bit better so that we can breathe easier.

 

Yet another way is trying to prevent osteoporosis, which harms our bones. When you lift weights or work out with any kind of resistance, your than reducing the risk of the disease. Running and walking helps as well because it teaches your body to hold its own weight as well as get stronger.

 

I know that I myself have heard that exercising can help elevate my mood, but honestly I never understood why. Apparently when we exercise it activates the chemicals called neurotransmitters. They help nerve cells communicate and can help avoid depression. Exercising balances these chemicals out and releases endorphins, which also provide natural pain relief. It also reduces your anxiety level and helps you manage stress.

 

If you break it down like this, it may make even more sense to you. Some short term benefits of exercising:

1. Your heart will be healthier – physical activity makes your heart work harder, therefore makes it stronger and able to function that much better
2. Your muscles, bones and joints are healthier – you increase bone density when you do resistance training (lifting weights, etc)
3. Burn more calories – when you can exercise regularly you burn more calories during times when your active and when your resting (who can argue with burning calories when your resting?!)
4. Able to cope with stress much better because it is a proven fact that those of us who are fit have less anxiety, depression and stress than people who aren’t
5. Your able to fall asleep and stay asleep
6. Your able to think faster and clearer
7. Increase in your energy

    If your more of a ‘long term’ kind of person, here are some benefits including reduced risk of:

1. Dying early
2. Developing coronary artery disease (did you know that men who aren’t active have about TWICE the risk of developing heart disease?)
3. Having a second heart attack. As well as lowering your risk of dying from a heart attack.
4. Developing high blood pressure
5. Developing diabetes – type 2
6. Developing colon cancer as well as other types of cancer
7. Becoming obese

If you were to pick up any health or fitness magazine it’ll usually boast about having great new ways to zap your body into shape. Most of the time they’ll even have a snazzy pull out page of tummy crunches and leg raises that they expect to get tacked up on your wall.

Here are some ‘typical’ activities that you may find yourself doing and you might be surprised on the calories your burning all ready!

  

You will burn approx. 100 calories (120 to 150-pound healthy person)
Activity	Time in Minutes
Clean/vacuum/mop floor	25-35
Wash dishes/iron clothes	45-50
Mow lawn (self-propelled mower)	25-30
Mow lawn (manual mower)	12-15
Garden (spade/Roto-till)	10-20
Rake leaves	20-25
Wash or wax car	20-25
Wash windows	20-30
Paint (brush not a roller)	35-40
Snow shovel	10-15
Snow blowing	15-20
Stack firewood	15-20
Walk (brisk)	15-25
Tennis	20-25
Golf (walk course)	20-25
Bicycle (5.5 mph rate)	20-30
Bicycle (9.4 mph rate)	15-20
Aerobics (medium)	20-30

25 Fun Ways to get some cardio

1.     Sledding

2.     Walking through a Theme Park

3.     Going to a County Fair

4.     Playing Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Basketball

5.     Walk on the beach

6.     Jumping on a trampoline with the kids

7.     Roller blading (now’s a great time to learn!)

8.     Riding bikes

9.     Taking a karate class (get cardio and learn self defense!)

10.  Rock climbing (indoor or out)

11.  Bellydance

12.  Horseback riding

13.  Badminton

14.  Swimming

15.  Skip rope (if you can hum a tune for 9 ½ minutes you’ll burn 100 calories)

16.  Play golf (minus the cart of course)

17.  Hockey (on the ice or in the street with the kids)

18.  Shoveling the driveway or the sidewalk

19.  Walk treadmill (you know the one that’s doubling as a closet!) while on the phone with that relative/friend you keep meaning to catch up with

20.  Tennis

21.  Play tag with kids

22.  Walk the mall

23.  Take a nature hike (be sure to bring some water)

24.  Skiing

25.  Act like a tourist and walk around your city and enjoy sights you may have overlooked in your busy day to day life

 Ways your getting cardio without even realizing it

1.       Every time you run to the freezer to grab ice after Jr. falls (for the 3^rd time this morning)

2.       Running to the car from school after you left the car (for a minute at most) in the bus loading zone because you got caught talking to your sons English teacher

3.       Chasing the twins around the backyard because they decided it would be fun for the neighbors to see their sisters Princess Barbie underwear

4.       Running from the top of the stairs to the bottom of the slide to catch your toddler for the 20^th time on the playground

5.       Chasing the dog around the entire house after he decided to use the shoes you just spent an entire paycheck on as his chew toy

 Take a look at some of these crazy products that I had found that try and make you believe you’ll lose those unwanted pounds. Please try and control your laughter! In no way does Dermathol endorse or promote these products. These are solely for the purpose of entertainment.

Wash Yourself Skinny Aoquili Diet Soap is a unique weight loss soap that is made from “the elixirs of undersea plants, including rare seaweed.” The unique qualities are its defeating agents which penetrate to the subcutaneous layer to assist in the elimination of fat layers. Given some time, you will be surprised to find that your body has become slender … It makes your weight control simple, convenient,and relaxed.”      

Caffeine Tights  Palmers “Slim Fit 20” caffeine tights helps “trim inches from thighs, reduces the appearance of cellulite and reduce[s] the dreaded “orange peel” effect.”They say they work because body heat releases caffeine microcapsules  into the leg, thus promoting the metabolism to kick in and start burning the fat.   

Ray of Hope Sunscreen “It’s a two-in-one. A tan and tone. A sun and slim. …This new water-resistant broad spectrum sunscreen actually helps you fight the look of fat while lying on the beach! With exclusive sun-activated spheres that release the visual slimming effect of caffeine molecules when you need them most— while baring the better part of your birthday suit in the sun—in a non-greasy spray formula of hydrating antioxidants and aloe.”   

 Spray Yourself Skinny  The SLIMist weight loss spray program has ‘two distinct components - an intra oral spray and three scent inhalers, called Scentsifiers” to help you get skinny.  “SLIMist spray formulation is a combination of three of the most thoroughly researched weight loss ingredients over the past 30 years.  

Lick Your Lips Skinny   A lip product that is supposed to help you get skinny.  PROMISE is “applied to the lips of people that are snacking and picking at food or tempted to eat large meals. When the urge to snack or have a large meal strikes… Apply liberally to your lips. Use it as often as necessary. It ‘helps’ curb your appetite.

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