The Benefits of Daily Physical Activity

Reasons to Start! Moving

Physical fitness helps prevent disease as well as anxiety. An active life can also help you sleep better and feel good about yourself. Other reasons to add exercise to your life include:

• Weight control - physical activity increases your metabolism and helps you burn calories more efficiently
• Better physique - exercise helps build muscle and tone your body
• Blood sugar balance - the risk for diabetes declines with physical activity
• Cancer check - exercise can help prevent colon and breast cancers
• More energy - being fit helps you convert food and oxygen efficiently, so you have more fuel for daily activities
• Cholesterol count - exercise increases high density lipoproteins (HDLs), the substance that helps clear cholesterol out of your blood
• Handle on hypertension - blood pressure goes down with exercise
• Bone benefit - weight-bearing exercise helps prevent the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis
• Heart health - your heart pumps better with physical activity
• Longer life - studies show fitness is linked to longevity
• Less stress - regular exercise can lower tension and ward off depression

If you're not ready to become physically active now, you're not alone. Fewer than 20% of people trying to make a change are ready to take action at a given moment - it takes time. But you can move a step closer by simply thinking about becoming more active.

Fitness Feels Good and Is Good for You

Regular physical activity enables your body to run smoothly. Fit people have more energy than inactive people, because they're better able to convert the food they eat and the air they breathe into fuel for the body. Becoming physically active also strengthens your heart - allowing you to pump more oxygen to your muscles. And there are lots more benefits, too - exercise helps you:

• Sleep more soundly so you're refreshed and ready for the day
• Control your weight by increasing your metabolism and burning calories
• Build muscle and tone your body
• Guard against colon and breast cancers as well as osteoporosis, diabetes, and high blood pressure
• Increase your HDL count - the "good cholesterol"
• Improve alertness and concentration
• Gain an overall sense of well-being while reducing stress

A little exercise goes a long way, while a lot of exercise can reap even more rewards. Exercising at least 30 minutes at moderate intensity on most days is a good long-term goal. But any program should start slowly and build to a comfortable level.