What Are 5 Keys to Optimun Health? Let’s Talk Exercise

What Are The 5  Keys to Optimum Health?
1. Exercise
2. Good Nutrition
3. Rest
4. Stress Management
5. Proper Nerve Supply with Chiropractic Care.

Let’s Talk Exercise.
To stay or get fit you don’t have to have a pricey gym membership or special equipment.  Most people have everything they need to get fit; two feet!  Walking is a great exercise and just 30 minutes most days will help get you back on the road to optimum health. Building physical activity back into our daily lives is one of the great public health challenges of this century according to the Department of Exercise at the University of South Carolina.  Their study states that our bodies were designed to be physically active, and we don’t do well with long-term exposure to sedentary living.  Lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for spinal dysfunction in addition to cardiovascular disease and a whole host of other ailments.

Think you don’t have 30 minutes in your day to devote to exercise?  The good news is that you can reap the same benefits if you exercise twice a day for 15 minutes or three times a day for 10 minutes. Here are some ideas to help you get active:

1. Get out the leash and take your dog for a walk.  Dogs make excellent exercise buddies and they are more than happy to help you get some exercise too.
2. Take your child or children for a brisk walk.  Not only are you getting your 30 minutes in but you are being an excellent example of how to stay active. To spice up your walk, explore new neighborhoods or turn your walk into a fun scavenger hunt.
3.  Tune into fitness during TV time.  Reject your inner couch potato.  Walk, jog in place or if you have one use a treadmill and watch your favorite 30 minute show.  If you watch an hour long recorded show and fast forward through the commercials you just exercised 45 minutes increasing your daily goal by 50%!
4.  Park and walk.  How many times do we circle the parking lot to find “the” spot?  If we park farther away we spare ourselves the stress and gain more energy by walking further to our             destination.
5.  Dance!  Who doesn’t love to dance?  Most songs are 3 to 5 minutes long.  Put on some tunes and dance. That 30 minutes will fly by.

If these ideas don’t work for you, find something that does.  Ditching the excuses can be the first step to a healthier you.

Next month we will talk about the 2nd key to Optimum Health; Good Nutrition