The Benefits:

The previous articles in this series have focused on the benefits of adopting a healthier lifestyle and the changes we can easily make in our daily lives to do so. But getting started can be quite challenging, particularly if you are generally sedentary. You will find this lifestyle change difficult and perhaps even somewhat uncomfortable at the beginning. However, rest assured that you will begin to feel better overall very quickly. Let’s say you decide that at the beginning, you will walk up three flights of stairs per day in your office or apartment building. You have just prevented three to four pounds (1.5 kilograms) of weight gain for the coming year. If five days a week, you begin parking your car five minutes away from your home, park it five minutes away from work and add a ten-minute brisk walk during lunch, you will lose about a pound per month. That is twelve pounds per year. Not only will you lose some weight, but your cardiovascular health will also improve greatly.

According to research done by the American College of Sports Medicine, even moderate-intensity exercise – that is, activity that raises your pulse rate to only the very bottom or even slightly under the aerobic range – has enormous benefits for your heart and lungs. According to one study, moderate-intensity exercise and activity can be as effective as vigorous exercise. In other words, the desk-bound executive who regularly jogs may not be much better off than a person who does moderate intensity exercise throughout the day.

There have been several studies confirming the vast benefits of increased activity. At the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, a study followed 13,000 men and women over an eight-year period of time. The mortality rate from all causes was significantly lower in those with moderate levels of fitness than the low-level fitness group. A University of Michigan study yielded almost identical results from a study that followed 12,000 middle-aged men. The active group engaged in gardening, yard work, home repairs, dancing, swimming, and home exercise programs. A third study completed at Stanford University concluded that people who engaged in moderate-level activity for eight weeks at thirty minutes per day, whether consecutive or in three ten-minute sessions, experienced significant cardiovascular improvement.

In Conclusion:

A few years ago, I took on a client whose goal was to improve her overall health and shed a few pounds. She had a very busy schedule and therefore, committing to my full program was not doable. Since she generally ate healthfully, her diet needed only some slight adjustments. Additionally, we worked in a longer route to the bus and had her using the stairs in her building instead of the elevator when she didn’t have heavy packages. In three months’ time, she dropped eight pounds – without a formal exercise program.

So, remember that Utopian world we mentioned a few weeks back? The ideal model is for people to set aside time on a daily basis for high-intensity exercise. But when taking people’s busy lifestyles into account, we need to be practical, and to understand that this isn’t always realistic. As we can clearly see, though, the small changes you can make in your daily habits and overall lifestyle can make the biggest difference in your health. Increasing your activity levels is just one more way to “add hours to your days, days to your years and years to your life.”

For previous columns, click HERE.

Alan Freishtat is an A.C.E. CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER and a LIFESTYLE FITNESS COACH with over 10 years of professional experience. He is the co-director of the Jerusalem-based weight loss center Lose It! together with Linda Holtz M.S. and is available for private consultations, assessments and personalized workout programs. Alan also lectures and gives seminars and workshops. He can be reached at 02-651-8502 or 050-555-7175, or by email at [email protected].

(Alan Freishtat – YWN)