Our 21st Century lifestyles are inactive compared to those of our ancient ancestors. For them every single day was full of activity just getting enough food for survival. In the 1900's manual labor and 'work' as it was called then started to be replaced by machinery and automation. Physical activity in our daily lives has decreased to the point where there is almost a complete lack of anything vaguely resembling physical 'work' as it was known. Many people sit for long periods each day in front of computers or other sit down and sedentary jobs. But the problem is our bodies have been engineered for regular muscular activity and this is how the human body keeps itself healthy. When it is removed our bodies weaken and become prone to disease. Whether we accept it or not, our bodies stay healthier, function better and last longer when we get proper muscle building and maintaining exercise. Symptoms of disuse that should alert us when we are not being active enough are weak and soft flabby muscles, being overweight or obese, excess belly fat, lack of endurance, constant fatigue, chronic low back or joint pain, intolerance to stress, poor circulation, anxiety and depression, low breathing capacity, increased blood pressure and blood fat levels, an elevated resting pulse rate and signs of disease beginning to appear. Proper muscle maintaining exercise is not an 'optional' extra particularly in the second half of life. One of the problems is that many people approach exercise like it is a choice. We may view intentional exercise as 'work', which is one of the reasons we likely avoid it. Well, you could not be more on target. Exercise is work; it is the movement that our bodies need to stimulate 'growth and repair' hormones that keep us healthy and strong. It is absurd you can think you can remain healthy without these hormones renewing old worn out cells and tissues. Without them chemicals instruct the cells to decay, degenerate and die. Our ancestors did not need to go to the gym they got all the activity they needed built in to their daily lives. But that has all been removed to make our lives more 'comfortable' and 'easy'. But the price is a high one when your life is cut short by a heart attack or some other life threatening disease which is epidemic in our modern world. Think of the small amount of time you need to spend with just 2-3 strength training exercise sessions each week as medicine. The impact of this medicine is both healing and preventive. It the necessary 'self-health' treatment that rejuvenates and regenerates the body, reboots the mind and rekindles the spirit. This can add years to your life and lots of life to your years. Research confirms that 'exercise deficiency syndrome' is the biggest risk we face as we age. Living a sedentary lifestyle with no structured intentional exercise is now considered more dangerous to your health than smoking. Starting a new, active lifestyle is something you do easily for yourself. Think of it like making a bank deposit as an investment in the future. This will make sure that first, you actually get to see your senior years and secondly that they are packed full of enjoyable things that will make that last third of your life an exciting prospect.
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