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Skin
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Exercise
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Why Exercise?
Exercise lowers blood pressure. In fact,
it may be one of the most effective non-drug
therapies for lowering blood pressure.
When researchers studied the effects of
walking in people with normal blood pressure. They found that
a regular program of walking lowered systolic
blood pressure (the top number) by 6 to
8 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury, the unit
by which blood pressure is measured) and
diastolic pressure (the bottom number)
by 7 mm Hg. Regular exercise
lowers heart attack risk. A Finnish study
involving nearly 1,500 men revealed that
men who exercised regularly slashed their
risk of heart attack by about one-third.
Exercise raises
HDL-cholesterol, the good cholesterol
fraction that helps clear bad cholesterol
from the bloodstream. Stepping up your
pace increases functional capacity, or
the ability of the heart to use oxygen
more efficiently. In the long run, this
means that each physical effort requires
less work from the heart. Staying active helps
prevent the onset and progression of type
2 or non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM),
often called adult-onset diabetes. Exercise is a great
stress reducer. Reducing stress helps
you cope with life better, work more efficiently,
and look at life's cup as half full rather
than half empty. Come to think of it,
we could even put this reason in the weight
loss ones. Some people eat out of stress,
and often indiscriminately so. Perhaps
you've even done it yourself: stopped
at the bakery or vending machine after
a particularly harrowing day, hoping that
a candy bar or doughnut would ease the
stress. Usually, though, eating this way
just adds to your stress level. So, change
to a tried and true way to eliminate stress
(and stress-related eating): exercise.
Exercise improves
self-esteem, mood and even the ability
to think clearly. This reason, too, could
be placed back up in the list of reasons
to exercise for weight loss purposes.
Putting a positive spin on your self-esteem
is an exceptionally effective way to give
yourself the encouragement you need to
keep up with the efforts of losing weight.
What Type of Exercise Should You Choose?
Many people ask why we have
to devote time to exercise today -- unlike
in so many years gone by. Just take a
look around you at the multiple and endless
energy-saving devices that allow us to
conserve calories so well. It's easy to
understand why we have to make an effort
to burn calories! As
you choose a regular form of exercise,
keep enjoyment first in mind. Do you hate
exercise equipment? Then stay away from
it, and go for the walking, swimming,
and hiking you love. If you choose a type
of exercise that you enjoy, you have a
better chance of sticking with it over
the long haul. Remember, you need exercise
not just to lose weight, but for several
other reasons: to keep the weight off,
to make your heart and lungs stronger
and fight off the stress that is so damaging
to your health. We cannot stress enough
how important it is to really enjoy the
exercise you choose. Cross
training, or engaging in a number of different
activities, works exceedingly well to
fight boredom and to keep a wider variety
of muscles strong. For instance, you might
walk briskly on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday and on Tuesday you participate
in a tennis league. Thursdays could be
your heavy cleaning job day, where you
knock off at least one of the those projects
on that never-ending list. On the weekends,
enjoy bicycle rides, canoeing or ballroom
dancing, or a combination of all three.
Sure doesn't sound much like work anymore,
does it.
How intensely should you exercise?
As a rough rule of thumb, you should break
a sweat, but still be able to carry on
a conversation (although perhaps a little
winded). Officially speaking, you can
exercise at your target heart rate. Here's
how to calculate your target heart rate:
- Subtract your
age from 220:
For example, a 45 year old person
would calculate thusly: 220 - 45 =
175
- Determine a safe
target heart rate, which is 60 to
70 percent of the number you calculated
in step one:
175 x (0.60) = 105
175 x (0.70) = 122
The heart rate at
which you should exercise most strenuously
is 105 to 122. If you have not
been exercising, it is imperative that
you check with your physician before starting
to exercise. Your heart may not be strong
enough for you to exercise at this maximum
heart rate, and you may have to work up
to it. Be safe, and see your physician
first! Just to give you
some comparisons of how many calories
you can burn, we've run the numbers. The
actual number of calories you burn is
dependent on your current size and gender.
Smaller women, for example, burn fewer
calories than a larger man. The numbers
we present here performed by an average
for a 150 pound 40 year old woman:
- bicycling, strenuously,
226 calories burned .
- walking (4 mph),
122 calories burned
.
- swimming, moderately
fast, 173 calories burned.
- tennis, singles
played at a moderate pace, 188 calories
.
- golfing, carrying
your own bag, 202 calories.
- gardening moderately,
145 calories
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