Best Thing Ever for Health - Exercise!

I'm going to talk about one of the most important things that we can do for our health at any age. It's so important. It's almost a panacea, meaning it's almost a cure for everything that ails us. Now, it isn't a cure for everything, but it really makes a huge difference. Okay. What is it?

You're right. Exercise. Absolutely.

I have always kind of taken my health for granted, as I had mentioned once before, and I have exercised a lot of my life, but it's been pretty hit or miss. I do it for a while. I feel good. Then I get busy with something else. I don't want to wake up in the morning and go to the gym, and sometimes I just don't want to do it!

But something happened eight years ago for me. I'm not exactly sure what it was. It was just sort of a 'Oh, I get it now'. I realized that exercise is the most important thing that I can do for my brain, for my body, for my heart, for how I feel every day. Super important.

When you think about it, when humans first came onto this earth, way back in the day, what were we doing? We were running, we were walking, we were moving, we were hunting. We were gathering. We were doing all that kind of stuff. And that's what our bodies are made to do.

Well, in this modern life, things are a little bit different. What do we do most of the day? We mostly sit. We might stand for some of our job, but mostly we sit. We sit and boy, I'll tell you, there is nothing worse for back pain or anything than sitting all day long.

So I have been going to a group training gym, where we work on the treadmill. We work on the rower, we do weights and body weights, and all that kind of stuff. And I did it pretty religiously for eight years. I'd go for four days a week. And I was strong! I felt really good. I had good balance and I was flexible. Then came 2020 and my gym was closed for four, four and a half months.

Well, what was I going to do? I walked every morning. I live in a neighborhood that's completely flat, so it didn't matter how fast I walked, I couldn't walk fast enough to get my heart rate up. Although walking is a great exercise for sure, but I was used to more. So about a month ago, my gym opened back up, and I started going again and wow, was I at a shape? Whew. I hurt. I couldn't hardly stretch. My hips were tight. My knees were tight, everything. And I was, well, I was really de-conditioned. Now de-conditioning happens really fast. I mean, like if you're inactive for days you can start to become de-conditioned pretty right away. So you can imagine after four, four and a half months!

What I want to say is that exercise is super important for flexibility, for balance, for stability, for power, for being able to reach things up high and to squat down and get things, pick up kids, to stand up, to sit down, to do all of that stuff. It's very, very important. And what I want to say is if you are just starting your exercise program, or at least considering doing one, or if you're getting ready to go back after you've been exercising a lot less than what you were doing before. I want you to think about three things.

First start slow and do not push yourself. Look at online videos, perhaps get a personal trainer, see what you think, but go slow and build up. A big problem people have is they get back in the gym and they go, 'yeah, this feels great'. And they just try to go as fast and as hard as they did before. But, you'll be very, very sore and you could really injure yourself. And that's the last thing you want to do. So start slow!

Second, make sure you stretch. We absolutely don't stretch enough and it will make a huge difference in how your muscles will work, how your body feels. Definitely stretch! And again, you're not going to hurt yourself. You don't want to go beyond the point of pain, but stretch.

And the third thing, and probably the most important thing, is to be consistent. Go! Not every day ... not every day! But go regularly because it doesn't matter that I worked out for eight years, that time has gone. It doesn't matter what I did yesterday. What matters is what I do today and tomorrow and the next day. So start slow, stretch, and be consistent.

Thank you for listening.

Dr. Elaine

https://www.drelainestewart.com

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.