How Often Should I Exercise? Some Advice for Longevity

“How often should I exercise?” is one of those questions I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve been asked. Here are some other questions that fall into the same category. “Should I be lifting weights?”, “Should I add in some cardio?”, “What about yoga?” and “Do those DVDs work?”.

Just recently I read an article that about the regions around the world with the longest life span and their similarities with each other. Two things were apparent with regards to their fitness routines. The people in these regions did not belong to or go to gyms and also they hand greater hand strength than the average person in other areas. How do these people with greater than average life expectancy and no physical fitness routine have better than average hand strength, a good indicator of overall strength?

The Nine Longevity Hot-spots 

The answer lies in the lifestyles of the people in these areas. The majority of the areas would be considered rural or at least separated from the conveniences of the rest of the world. Walking is a way of life and not a form of exercise and most likely daily chores are being performed as a means of supporting themselves such as agriculture, fishing, and gathering. When you spend most of your day walking, digging, chopping and carrying objects from one place to another the end result is that you are going to be pretty fit and pretty strong. All this and an excellent diet to boot leads to this extended life expectancy.

Here in our country, we have gyms on every corner, modern medicine, a cure-all for every ill. specialized care programs for the elderly and yet we live shorter, less productive, less enjoyable lives. We elect to invite a number of stresses into our lives that impact our health such as long commutes, long hours at work, constant communication with others through wireless devices, horrible dietary choices and dietary guidance but decline to invite in the positive stress, eustress, of physical activity.

If we are physically capable of lifting your butt off the couch, standing on two feet and walking to your car to drive ourselves to a local chain restaurant while the items in the “crisper” drawer of the refrigerator rot away, we are capable of engaging in some form of exercise.

So here is the special formula, we need to do engage in some type of activity every day, we need to make the right nutritional choices every day, we need to get out of your comfort zone to gain some strength and endurance so we are not winded after walking from the back of the parking lot to the store entrance.

There is a process here that takes a lifetime, it’s not meant to be fixed in 21 days, 6 months or any other time period you may have been lead to believe. Those people living those long healthy lives also tended to be happier than average, Small changes over time lead to big results, you deserve to be happy too!