By: Jean Johnson for Heart1
I skim the cream off my energy for writing. All through the morning and into the early afternoon, I’m seated at the keyboard. Then, when I’ve given my pound of flesh for the day – usually by 3 or so – I crank up the tunes and blow off the ya-yas on my Nordic track. Mine’s a minimalist workout. After the 24 minute cardio (and not a second more), comes 10 minutes strength and flexibility work on the body part of choice for the day: Arms, abs, spine, legs or hips.
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Ideas to help you get moving:
Get the heart rate up for 20 - 30 minutes three times a week any way that’s fun – brisk walking, running, biking, swimming or dancing.
Try some isometric holds on any muscle while waiting on the elevator or in line.
In the morning do some ab work before tossing off the covers. Then flip over and do a few modified push ups before getting out of bed.
Do some shoulder rolls and lower back arching in the shower.
While waiting for the coffee, hang gently over your toes and stretch out each vertebra.
Point and flex and do some ankle and wrist rolls while watching the news.
Take up a sport that’s fun.
Cruise on down to a salsa club or try Argentine tango.
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If I said it’s my favorite time of day or that I liked the routine more than flossing my teeth, I’d be fibbing. I’d also be less than truthful if I implied I never let this schedule slip. Invariably the days and weeks come when the self-care takes a back seat to life’s more tantalizing matters. If it goes for too long, though, I start feeling hung down, wrung down, and yes – brung down.
There’s a reason for that, according to author of the Balanced Weight Management Web site and nutrition specialist at Kaiser Permanente, Bob Wilson, B.S., D.T.R. “The body truly is a mechanical, biochemical, and electrically integrated machine. When we choose to be physically active on a regular basis, we tune up the body on every level.”
Wilson points to the Harvard Nurses Study on nutrition and health initiated in the late 1970s. “This well-known study tested essential physical activity skills and dramatically confirmed the idea that exercise benefits by tuning up the body and by increasing resistance to disease.”
If generalities and prodding aren’t sufficient motivation, however, perhaps the science that Wilson very ably delivers will do the trick. He starts with the obvious body systems – muscles.
“As we exercise, we tune up the metabolism by helping what are known as slow twitch muscles that burn fat work effectively,” said Wilson. “Activity – particularly endurance training – also increases oxidative enzymes that increase the size and number of mitochondria which are the powerhouses of the cells.” According to Wilson having lots of mitochrondria is nothing but a good thing. He underscores this dynamic by noting a study of rats in which those that trained regularly could exercise four to eight hours, while their couch potato peers grew exhausted after only 30 minutes.
Exercise also pays off handsomely when it comes to efficient interaction between the lungs and circulation system. “While aerobic training doesn’t alter the size of the lungs, it does improve the condition of the muscles we breathe with. This in turn reduces the residual volume of the lung that we tend not to use,” said Wilson. “This especially pays off when we’re older as residual volume tends to increase with age and in activity.”
What we want instead of lungs that take numerous tiny sips of air, is a breathing system that is slow, deep, and efficient. “When we exercise and breathe deeply,” Wilson explained, “the alveolar sacs and tiny capillaries in all areas of the lungs are stimulated. Since this is where the oxygen and carbon dioxide is exchanged, it’s a pretty critical part of the body.”
In part this benefit occurs, says Wilson, because endurance training leads to an overall reduction in heart rate along with the accompanying increases in the stroke volume, the amount of blood pumped with each contraction of the heart muscle. “The left ventricle fills more easily in the heart that is conditioned by regular workouts, and the trained heart is also better able to use fat as a source of energy,” said Wilson.
He also explains that blood flow to the heart improves with exercise. “The more you stress the muscle, the more you build a supply source for oxygen and oxidative enzymes by enlarging the diameter of the coronary arteries. It’s like building a healthy neighborhood and results in reducing the overall burden on the heart itself.”
The endocrine system or the glands in the body that secrete hormones also respond to regularly activity. “What happens with training is that the body develops an increased sensitivity to hormones, a phenomenon that in turn causes the glands to respond more effectively,” said Wilson. “Diabetes, for example, is a reaction to a breakdown in glandular function. In today’s sedentary society, 40 to 74 percent of adults have what’s known as pre-diabetes. Epinephrine, cortisol, thyroxin, glucagons, and growth hormone – all of these raise blood sugar, whereas only insulin can lower it.”
Aveolar sacs, mitochondria, insulin, oxidative enzymes. I had no idea I was so well-endowed. So, it’s time to hang up the writing and hop on my Nordic track. Time to turn up the tunes and get the blood flowing. Burn the fat, stress the muscles, improve sensitivity to hormones, and generally let my body know that I value it at least as much as I do my car.
