The Benefits of Adding Exercise to Your Daily Routine
March 4th, 2015 • Comments
Tags: Exercise, Healthy Living
At the beginning of each year, resolutions are made, and then later broken – most commonly, those resolutions are exercise and diet plans. We make resolutions to exercise for the right reasons, but with the wrong goal in mind. Yes, exercise helps to control your weight, which is important. However, we are shortchanging ourselves if we think that’s the ONLY reason to incorporate exercise into our daily routines.
This blog post published by the Mayo Clinic lists multiple reasons why exercise is important. There are other incredible benefits to moving your body that we may discount, but that are equally important in order to have a healthy, well-balanced life. In addition to controlling weight, exercise also combats health conditions and diseases; gives you more energy; improves your mood; promotes better sleep, and more!
A general recommendation is to exercise 30 minutes each day (this amounts to only 2% of your day!). People with specific weight loss or fitness goals will most likely need to exercise more.
Some tips to turn exercise into a daily routine:
Office workers are seated for 8 hours a day and at risk for heart disease, weight gain, diabetes, depression, and a whole slew of other health problems. Adding exercise to your daily routine can add life to your years, and years to your life!
This blog post published by the Mayo Clinic lists multiple reasons why exercise is important. There are other incredible benefits to moving your body that we may discount, but that are equally important in order to have a healthy, well-balanced life. In addition to controlling weight, exercise also combats health conditions and diseases; gives you more energy; improves your mood; promotes better sleep, and more!
A general recommendation is to exercise 30 minutes each day (this amounts to only 2% of your day!). People with specific weight loss or fitness goals will most likely need to exercise more. Some tips to turn exercise into a daily routine:
- Find the right activity or program. This is probably the most important tip! If you don’t like what you’re doing, you probably won’t do it again! Costs can vary from the cost of a pair of good pair of shoes for walking and running, to purchasing a home weight system, or signing up for a monthly membership at a fitness center. You may be fortunate enough to work at an organization that offers gym memberships, or has an on-site gym. Take advantage of these benefits.
- Consistency is key – however, if you miss a day (or a week, or even a month) – don’t use that as the excuse to stop exercising altogether. Start where you’re at and enjoy the journey. Just don’t give up! You will have sore muscles, and at first, you may be more tired than you were before you started exercising. Sticking with exercise will pay big rewards in overall health and happiness.
- Have fun! If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, what’s the point? There are plenty of things in life that we are duty-bound to complete; make exercise the time that you look forward to because you know how much fun you will have! Need some time with friends? Make a date to walk, go to the gym, or take a Jazzercise class together. It could very well be the best part of your day!
- Every once in a while, mix things up! Once you find the right exercise program or activity, it’s still a good idea to change things up every once in a while. Keeping things fresh keeps your mind engaged and your overall satisfaction with exercise. Some ideas: Try out a yoga class; sign up for a local 5K; gather your friends and create a volleyball team to compete at the local rec center. There are plenty of opportunities to exercise, once you start looking for them!
Office workers are seated for 8 hours a day and at risk for heart disease, weight gain, diabetes, depression, and a whole slew of other health problems. Adding exercise to your daily routine can add life to your years, and years to your life!
