Health Advices for Better Life

In America, it’s Thanksgiving weekend. For many families, that means feasting, relaxing in front of the television, enjoying each others’ company, and reflecting on our many blessings.

It also means the start of weight-gaining season.

You know you have to work hard to keep from getting madly out of shape in the next few weeks. If you already have a personal vitality program, good for you… the battle will be easier. If not, it’s probably an excellent time to start.

Aside from the obvious utility of doing it to help fight holiday weight gain, recent years’ research confirms many of the intuitive benefits of exercise. The Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health has pronounced a regular exercise regimen reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), increases bone density (and bones’ resistance to breaking), and makes that good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein, or HDL) more easily circulate through your body. Not only that, the Report confirms what we all know: exercise improves your physical appearance.

Chicks will dig you!

You should work out at least three times a week – six is better – and do it first thing in the morning, if you can. Whether you own your own business, or your leadership mission lies in a different direction, you must exercise to keep yourself fit enough to drive through the things you have to do. When I suggest it to my busy clients, many of them roll their eyes and say “ugh, exercise… I don’t have time for that.” But if they try a disciplined program for three weeks straight, every one of my clients sings the praises of exercise… the abundance of energy they get from their vitality program ends up helping them find ways to save more time (by being more productive) than they spend working out.

The routine I use keeps my energy high and my “vital signs” good. I exercise six mornings a week, and rarely miss a workout. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I hit the treadmill at the gym for an “interval” jog, forcing my heart rate to go up and down four times in twenty minutes. Great for the heart and respiration! On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I lift weights to keep my muscles strong. I alternate upper-body muscle groups (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps) during one weightlifting workout with lower-body groups (quadriceps, calves, hamstrings, and abdominals) on the next.

Exercise is one of the five key daily health habits I call The NEWSS: Nutrition (start by cutting the processed garbage out of your diet), Exercise, Water (get two liters every day), Sleep (get eight hours every night), and Supplements (take at least one good multi-nutrient to give your body what it can’t otherwise get in these days of commercially-engineered food).

If you poop out, your mission fails. Don’t accept that possibility. Get out there and jog, or hit the gym. You know you should… especially with the days of feasting and merriment that lie ahead.