Top Ways to Stay Healthy

The thing to do for optimum health is something your grandparents probably did, but we, in our fast paced society, tend to overlook because we say that we are just too busy to do it.

The first thing you should do, at least one hour everyday, is exercise.

Daily exercise is key to preventing heart disease and stroke by making your heart muscle stronger. Exercising also lowers your blood pressure. In addition, daily exercise raises your high density lipoprotein levels (HDL). This is your good cholesterol. Your bad cholesterol, low density lipoprotein or LDL, is lowered. This in turn improves the blood flow to your heart thus increasing your heart's working capacity.

Exercising also strengthens and boosts your immune system. Some recent studies have suggested that exercising improves the functioning of your immune system. Exercise is a strong natural immune cell stimulator. This is really important for older men because their immune system progressively declines as they age. This can lead to a poor response to vaccinations and an increased risk of developing infectious diseases.

Luckily regular, moderate workouts, like jogging, walking or cycling, can, at least in part, offset the decline in immune function in aging men.

Exercise is not just for old men. Exercise will lower your disease risk no matter what your age is. This has been confirmed by various research studies. Any amount of exercise, at any age, is good for you. Generally speaking, the more exercise you do, the greater the benefit you get. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that you should try to get total of one hour of exercise a day.

Also a report published in WebMD states that exercising in middle age decreases your risk of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias later in life.

In a study of 1,400 adults, those who exercised in their leisure time during middle age were 52% less likely to develop dementia 21 years later than those who did not exercise. Their chance of developing Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, was 62% less.

These patterns are even more evident in people with the ApoE e4 gene. Having this gene is associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

"By being physically active in midlife, people who carry the ApoE e4 gene can lower their risk of Alzheimer's to the same level as someone not carrying the gene," says researcher Suvi Rovio, MSc, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

However she is not refering to taking a leisurely walk around the block now and then. Rovio told WebMD that the study participants who had the maximun benefit worked out vigorously enough to make them sweat.

For other individuals the hour can be made up of several shorter bursts of exercise Exercise can consist of fast walking, gardening, or heavy housecleaning done throughout the day.

Exercise is good for your bones. Because bone is living tissue, it responds to exercise by becoming stronger. Men and woman who are young and exercise regularly usually achieve more bone density and strength than those who do not.

As you age, you lose bone mass. Women and men who are older than 20 can help decrease bone loss with regular exercise.

Exercise also helps you to maintain muscle strength, coordination, and balance. Because of this. you are less likely to fall and fracture your bones.This is vitally important because as you age You are more likely to develop osteoporosis.The top exercises for your bones are weight-bearing which means you work against gravity. Examples of weight-bearing exercises are lifting weights, jogging, walking, hiking, jumping rope, climbing stairs, tennis, and dancing. Exercises that are not weight-bearing are swimming and bicycling. These exercises help build and maintain strong muscles and are good for your heart.

Exercise helps you maintain a proper weight for your size. Exercise can help you lose weight When you exercise, you burn more calories, and the more intensely you exercise, the more calories you burn. This in turn makes it easier to keep off excess pounds.

Here are some simple things you can do to exercise during the day. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Take a vigorous walk during your lunch break. Jump rope during TV commercials. Cut down your time in front of the TV and exercise instead. Get a group of fellow workers or neighbors together for a regular brisk walk. Workouts at a gym are super, but exercise you do throughout the day also helps you burn calories and keep your weight under control.

Before starting any exercise program, check with your doctor. When you start exercising, make sure to listen to your body. You may have pain for up to two days after exercising, but it should decrease after that. If it does not, you may be doing too much. Chest pain during exercise is not normal. If this occurs, stop exercising and consult your physician before your next workout.

reported by Susan Berg, author of

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