Why Be FIt?

By Eston R. Dunn, MS, ACSM

A woman walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. 

"I couldn't help noticing how happy you look," she said. "What's your secret for a long happy life?"

   "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," he said. "I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise."

   "That's amazing," the woman said. "How old are you?"

   "Twenty-six," he said.

In today’s society, it is especially important to keep fit because more people are eating junk food and playing video games instead of outdoor activities and balanced diets.

It's equally important to stay fit and healthy when working in a flex environment. For many people working in flexible work environments, their health is one of the last things they are concerned about. When was the last time you actually did anything that resembled exercise? Walking from your desk to the fridge and back doesn't count.

For people that work a traditional five-day week and travel to their jobs, there are more opportunities to get some exercise. This may be walking to and from bus stops, from the parking spot to the office or leaving the office at lunchtime.

Many offices have exercise rooms or special memberships for fitness clubs that are located close to the office. Since a group of people may take part in these activities, it is easier to keep up a healthy lifestyle. Peer pressure can work wonders when you are trying to stay fit.

Working from a home office, telework center or out of a vehicle can't give you the same motivation to stay with a healthy pattern. No one is there to remind you that it's time to go for a walk or take part in other physical activities. It's easier to convince yourself that you'll do some exercising later or when you are done working on a project.

It's up to you to take charge and make the decision to stay fit. There are a variety of options and only the expense and time you want to spend limit you. When you stay in a hotel on business trips take some time to use the exercise facilities - they are included in your charges so it makes sense to take advantage of them.

Thirty minutes a day is all you need to get started. If you really want to make a difference in your health, online options can help you. They provide the convenience of working out at home and are free.

Why is it important to stay fit to be successful on the job?

• Concentration is affected.
• Productivity decreases.
• You feel sluggish and have a hard time getting work done.
• Working from home or other flex-based schedules tend to do less physical activity.
• Too easy and habit forming to park at the desk and not get up.
• Easy to stash unhealthy snacks around the work area.
• Harder to kick colds or other ailments.

What Can You Do?

• Taking daily walks is a great start.
• Start slowly; otherwise, you'll hurt yourself.
• Consider exercise routines that don't require any or a lot of equipment.
• Get up and leave the house to a gym, you working out and is a break from the house.
• Make sure that snacks are healthy.
• Eat meals at a regular time.
• Don't rush meals to get back to work.

Benefits on the job:

• Work better.
• Concentration improves.
• Feel better overall - Less stressed, more relaxed, more energy.
• Won't feel tired all the time.
• Cope and recover better from illnesses.

Take time to include staying fit and healthy eating habits into your mobile lifestyle and you'll see the results.

To have an improved quality life it is important to be being active and fit. Research shows that fitness is a strong measure of health. In a study of more than 25,000 volunteers, researchers found that a person’s fitness level was more important than body weight. Men in the study who were overweight or obese but who were physically fit had a lower risk of death than men who were a healthy weight but were not physically fit. Being fit improves your overall health and reduces your risk of disease.

Let me enumerate the overall benefits and divide it into the following terms:

Short-Term Benefits

• A healthier heart. Physical activity makes demands on your heart that it stronger and better able to function
• Healthy muscles, bones, and joints. Resistance training such as weight lifting improves muscular strength and endurance and increases bone density, which is especially important for older adults to prevent falls and injuries
• Increased burning of calories. Physical activity burns calories and helps you achieve a healthy balance between the calories you take in from food and those you expend. When you exercise regularly, your body burns more calories, both during activity and at rest.
• Being fit may also lower your percentage of body fat and increase muscle strength and tone. Your percentage of body fat depends on genetics, lifestyle, and physical activities.

No matter what your size or shape, physical activity has important health benefits, including:

1. Better ability to cope with stress. People who are fit have less anxiety, depression, and stress than people who aren’t active

2. Improved ability to fall asleep and sleep well

3. Increased energy

4. Increased mental acuity—sharper and faster thinking.

Long-term benefits

• Reduce the risk to die early
• Reduce of developing coronary artery disease. Men who are not active have about twice the risk of developing heart disease than men who are regularly physically active
• People who get regular physical activity as part of a cardiac rehabilitation program have a lower risk of dying from a heart attack
• Regular physical activity can also lower blood pressure in those who have high blood pressure
• Physical activity may prevent type 2 diabetes through its effect on insulin, how the body processes sugar, and maintenance of body weight
• Reduce the risk of developing colon and other cancers
• Have a lower risk to become obese

But please bear in mind that for most people, they should talk to a health professional first before beginning a regular exercise program, especially those who have conditions such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, heart valve disease, or diabetes. If you are at risk for or have some of these conditions, your health professional may want to help you build a plan matched to your needs. He or she may want to do tests before you start a plan or want you to be more careful and watch for injuries or other problems.

The overall benefit of being active and fit is an improved quality of life—being able to do things you enjoy for longer periods of time (for example, playing with the kids, gardening, dancing, or walking). Research repeatedly shows that fitness is a strong measure of health. In a study, researchers found that a person’s fitness level was more important than body weight. Men in the study who were overweight or obese but who were physically fit had a lower risk of death than men who were a healthy weight but were not physically fit.

Being fit improves your overall health and reduces your risk of disease. Other fun fit facts include:

? Seventy-two percent (72%) of women do not engage in leisure-time physical activity, compared to sixty-four percent (64%) of men.

? Strength training, including lifting weights or doing calisthenics, increases muscular strength, and bone density.

? Thirty minutes of exercise a day can decrease the risk of chronic diseases including breast cancer. Coupled with appropriate dietary restraint, this level of activity can help overweight women lose weight.

? Despite well-known benefits of physical activity for older adults two-thirds are not as active as they should be. Individually tailored programs to encourage lifestyle changes in seniors may be effective.

? Treadmill fitness tests conducted 15 years apart found that poor fitness in young people was linked to twice the risk of diabetes, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome.

? Increased physical activity for a few hours a week is associated with reduced risk for breast cancer in post-menopausal women. More time spent exercising, even if not strenuously, provides the most benefit.

? A 20-year study says that increasing exercise levels may be more of a deterrent against cardiovascular disease than eating less.

? Exercise training has the potential to prevent or reverse the bone loss in postmenopausal women by almost 1 percent (1%) per year.

Heard enough? Just remember these sage words from actress Helen Hayes:

The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.

-she was 73 at the time