EXORCISE Your Habits

American Fitness, Sept, 2001

Modern conveniences should come with warning labels that say, "Caution, overuse of this product may be hazardous to your health." This label should be on the cars we drive, the computers we sit in front of all day and on the televisions that capture our attention at night. All of these conveniences are producing a nation living in a diseased state.

"Our current lifestyle is damaging our health," says Frank Booth, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "While technological advances, such as cars, washing machines and microwaves are wonderful, the majority of Americans do not get the recommended amount of physical activity each day and [this] could be deadly."

Now is a great time for health and fitness workers to teach people that a regular exercise program can improve their health. The gym is full of baby boomers who are seeing the results of years of sedentary behavior: diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. They are a receptive audience, so tell them. Tell them that when they don't exercise, it takes longer for sugar to leave the blood stream, thus setting themselves up for type II diabetes. Tell them exercise can result in capillary growth, which allows more blood to flow to the extremities, a major deterrent to atherosclerosis. Tell them exercise also increases the amount of good cholesterol the body produces.