Bless Your Heart -- Exercise!

Bless Your Heart – Exercise!

     It is pretty much accepted that 30 minutes of exercise each day will go a long way to improving the health of your heart.

     Sometimes it seems that our lives are so busy that we cannot possibly squeeze in another 30 minutes of anything, let alone exercise, which we probably won’t like anyway. Sometimes we have to trick ourselves for our own good.

     Some folks like to just jump right into whatever they are going to do, and start as they mean to go on -- that is, really, really, just give ‘er, eh. This is great, so exciting and determined. But sometimes this type of a gung ho beginning just peters out after a few days, and then we feel bad because we started with high hopes, and now have nothing to show for it. Why not start slowly with what we can comfortably do, and build up to our ultimate exercise goal? This approach often gives longer-lasting results.

     For starters, you could watch your favourite 30-minute TV show while standing up, instead of while sitting down; or you could sit on a balance ball. You could watch that TV show not only standing up but walking in place. There, now you have 30 minutes of activity and it did not disrupt your schedule at all.

     Studies have shown that people who have dogs tend to get more exercise than people who don’t. If you have a dog, take it for two 15-minute walks each day. There’s 30 minutes of exercise for you – and for him. Don’t go out and get a dog just because it might encourage you to exercise more. You might ask a neighbour if you could take his/her dog for a couple of walks a day. You might volunteer at an animal shelter; their dogs really need human contact and exercise, too.

     You could go for a couple of 15-minute walks a day by yourself. Go to the end of your walkway. Turn left (or right). Walk for 7 or 8 minutes. Turn around and walk home. There; that was a 15-minute walk. Do it again later in the day, and you’ll have 30 minutes of exercise. Hopefully you’ll get used to it, and maybe swap your two 15-minute sessions for one 30-minute walk. You are on your way to better health already!