May Is National Physical Fitness Month

by Cassandra Howard

Why dedicate an entire month to teaching and motivating people about the benefits of exercise? In short, exercise increases your quality of life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine, “Every U.S. adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.”

Some interesting statistics on the Benefits of Exercise include:

•  Burning 1,000 calories a week can lower your stroke risk by 24%

•  Coronary heart disease caused 476,124 deaths in 1996. Exercising for 14 minutes, 5 days per week can decrease your death risk from CHD by 46 percent.

•  Regular exercise decreases breast cancer risk by 20 percent.

•  Unfit men are 80 percent more likely to die of cancer than fit men.

By exercising regularly you're apt to work better, sleep better and be more alert and energetic than inactive individuals. Benefits of exercise include: higher metabolism and weight loss, lower blood pressure, lower risk of heart attack and stress relief.

Tips to add activity to your day: Walk as much as possible. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. When walking somewhere, take the “long way.” Skip the drive-through and walk in . Join local clubs/sports teams. The secrets to gaining health benefits from exercise are exercise regularly, exercise at a brisk pace, and try to exercise for at least 30 minutes at a time. VT

Cassandra Howard, MS, ACSM, is fitness director for J.P. Morgan Company in Tampa, Florida