The Vital Benefits to You of Exercise
Much has been written about exercise and how vital it is for optimum health. However much of this information can be overly confusing, complicated and contradictory. We aim to simplify this field and provide simple but effective information which you can use.
As part of our regular newsletter there will be examples of effective common sense exercise which anyone can use.
Exercise and your well-being
As part of the modern life we lead, in general, most people's bodies do not get enough exercise. We now drive everywhere, work in offices, sit on the sofa when watching TV and pay others to do the gardening etc...Not everyone gets less, perhaps there are some athletes and sport fanatics who get even more than in past times. However, in the main, the human body is used less than it was designed for.
Many of us forget that whole generations of our ancestors used to have very physically demanding days. Gathering food, growing crops, building our own houses and shelters, looking after animals, fighting wars, travelling to neighbouring villages etc. So over thousands of years the human body developed and evolved and then quite suddenly over the course of the last 50 to 100 years, our activity levels have really tailed off.
You don't have to join a gym to make changes
There are many methods to keep the body fit, toned and healthy. So what works? Simplicity! Give your body what it wants. What does it want? GOOD FOOD, GOOD WATER, GOOD AIR, GOOD EXERCISE, GOOD SLEEP, RESPECT AND LOVE.
The body is a machine. If you don't look after a machine, don't service or even don't use it very often, it can start to 'seize up' or become stiff, just like how a little used human body seems. Did you know, the body uses movement to remove the toxins and unwanted by-products? Instead, when there is not enough movement, the method that it uses to remove waste and toxins, is to store them in fatty areas of the body.
The fat was used to store reserves for later use but, with the toxins and chemicals in modern processed food, the fat in today's bodies becomes an unusable storage area. The fat has an enormous quantity of pesticides and toxins. This makes it an unusable storage area so it just builds up and builds up and becomes harder and harder to remove.
Start any exercise program gently
When it is removed by strenuous dieting, too many toxins are released into the body too quickly resulting in flu like symptoms and, in severe cases, temporary paralysis of various parts of the body. So a gradual exercise and diet program is required.
The blood system supplies nutrients to the body and the lymphatic system removes the wastes. Think of the lymphatic system as a toilet. Like a toilet, it works on values. The blood is pumped round our body by the heart. The lymphatic system has no such organ. It relies on our movements and gravity to circulate around our body. Our movements up and down, open and close the valves. So, the more we move, the more wastes are flushed out of our system. The less we move, the more toxins are stored in the body.
Why drinking water with exercise is important
Eventually, the waste products get to our elimination systems. They are carried by water. Pure water. All our circulatory systems, digestive systems etc, rely on water. Pure, clear water. Not tea, coffee, coke, chlorinated and fluoridated liquid, but pure, clear H20. We need a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day. Then your waste products can be flushed out of your elimination system.
Without water, your intestine slows down, toxins can be reabsorbed into the system, putrefaction causes intestinal diseases, indigestion problems, bad breath, skin problems - in short the toxins are not being excreted at a fast enough pace. So, the body stores them in the fat. And the fat builds up. Ideally, one should have bowel movement twice a day, optimally three times a day. (The medical profession says once a week, but they make a lot of money out of bowel cancer!).
Drink one glass of pure water when you wake up, at breaks during the day, one before each meal and one before bed at night. Drink one each time you go to the toilet and before each cup of tea, coffee, coke etc. If you ever FEEL thirsty, you already have a water depletion.
Hot and cold showers - Don't underestimate their effectiveness
One may laugh at those 'fanatics' who have hot and cold showers. Laughing while you lounge in a lovely warm bath. But lounging for too long in a warm bath is not particularly healthy. Although very relaxing and luxurious they are not doing your system a great deal of good.
The best thing to do is to also have a way to cool down a little. The most common way to do this is via a shower. You can alternate between a nice warm shower and then a cool one. Or if you have a mixer tap system you can have a cool shower and then enter your warm bath again. Do this a few times and the blood will move around your body more and you will feel very refreshed.
When you are in the shower, just use a face cloth/flannel on your face. Use a strong natural bristle brush on your body and help your skin exfoliate. Brush off all those dead cells so that your pores are clear and can 'breath'. Both these actions will help your body remove toxins and not lead to a build up of fat.
Now a tricky subject
Especially if you love chocolate ;-)
In the civilised world, it has become accepted that if you reward yourself, YOU EAT. The point here should be, reward the soul and not the body. So, when you want to reward yourself DO something that will give you a great memory or buy yourself something - a book, some flowers. Something aesthetic, can be enjoyed and when ready you can easily throw it away. You can not as easily throw away a chunk of flesh!
The Media and every Exercise book says to put aside enough time for these important activites. This is fine for the time you are exercising, but what about the long hours when one just sits? And what about the fact that sitting puts more strain on your back than standing? Not to mention the potbelly that seems to occur all on its own. That pot belly, fat thighs, double chin, sore neck, wrinkled face, dropped buttocks, etc come about because one is not exercising and stretching ALL muscles in the body DURING the whole day.
Try to keep your back muscles supple
This lack of stretching and exercising affects not only the muscles but also the supporter of the muscles, the spine. And atrophied muscles can pull the spine out of shape resulting in horrible backaches when you are older. If you are sitting at a desk, in an office, there are simple stretches you can do at work. You can also do these in the loo or at odd times in the day when you can! Try and spread the stretches out over the day. For example you could do leg and back exercises at night, or sitting at your desk, some of the standing ones at your desk or in a queue or whilst waiting for someone.
The laying down exercises could be done in bed either at night or in the morning. That way these movements and stretches are spread throughout the day. They help burn off fat and tone the muscles and the stretches help to relax the muscles. Both must be done to tone the body. You cannot just exercise one part of the body and expect it to get into shape. The whole body is a machine that you must work. A word of caution do these slowly and never do anything that causes pain. You should just feel a pleasant stretching feeling and, after about a month of this, you will feel much more supple and usually feel lighter on your feet.
