What if I told you that there is a “magic” pill available free of charge that can help you in these many ways:
-Releases stress
-Improves mood and enhances your sense of overall well-being
-Lessens depression
-Improves your self-esteem
-Lowers resting pulse rate and blood pressure
-Reduces total cholesterol and improves the ratio of “good” and “bad” cholesterols
-Helps prevent and control diabetes and osteoporosis
-Lower the risk of heart disease, colon cancer, obesity, hypertension, osteoporosis, diabetes, and depression
-Improves immune, joint, cardiac, and brain function
-Helps to clear the lungs and passageways of toxic effects from smoke
-Boosts dieting efforts by burning additional calories, raising metabolic rate, and reducing hunger
-Lessens cravings for nicotine and helps in smoking cessation
-Makes your muscles work more efficiently and therefore reduces the demand on your heart for oxygen-rich blood.

All of these benefits have been found to come with regular aerobic exercise.

Yet approximately 30% of American men and women are completely sedentary in their leisure time. Many of those who do some exercise do not exercise at a level that would benefit their health.

Part of the problem is confusion about how much exercise is enough and what form of exercise would be best. Even professionals in this area have changed their tune of advice over the years. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, official recommendations emphasized that cardiac fitness required vigorous exercise – such as running or aerobics, three to five days a week.

By the mid-1990’s, these guidelines were changed to a much more moderate goal. The new recommendations encourage all adults to accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week. Included here are exercises such as taking a brisk walk. Most researchers still believe that more strenuous exercise might yield somewhat greater health benefits. But no one these days discounts the protective effects of moderate exercising. For example, in the Nurses’ Health Study (a noteworthy, ongoing examination of women’s health issues), it was found that women who walk briskly three hours a week are as well-protected from heart disease as women who spend one and a half hours a week in more vigorous activities, such as running. In fact, women in the study who engaged in either form of exercise had a rate of heart attacks 30%-40% lower than that of women who did no exercise.

Even more recent research is suggesting that walking even one hour per week may lower the risk of coronary heart disease among women who are generally inactive. This from the Women’s Health Study conducted by the Harvard Medical School researchers (Lee, I-M, et al., JAMA, March 21, 2001). This should be encouraging news for any heart patient who has been unable to stick to an exercise program in the past.

The great news:
Research has clearly shown that the greatest observable cardiovascular gains are made when a sedentary person becomes moderately active. This does not mean that highly active people should do less. It is still true that vigorous exercise carries many benefits that moderate activity does not: greater weight control, better control of blood pressure, reduced cholesterol, and reduced risk of diabetes, to name a few.

But the great news is that virtually any activity is truly better than none, when it comes to protecting your heart. Start slow, aiming for one hour of waking a week. Then, geared with the improved mood and confidence that this will bring, try to stretch yourself into accomplishing the recommended 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on most days of the week.

The Harvard Women’s Health Watch newsletter offers these recommendations for getting started with an exercise program:
-If you can’t manage the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days, try exercising for shorter amounts of time, spread throughout the day
-Set aside a certain time every day for exercise, even if its only 10-15 minutes
-Keep you exercise “appointment,” just as you would a doctor’s appointment
-Try to schedule your exercise for a time of day when you feel most energetic.
-If you are tired, remind yourself that getting some physical activity will give you more energy
-Start slowly and build up gradually
-Take a walk during your lunch break
-Do physical activities with your children or grandchildren
-Set up a walking time with a buddy or a loved one.
-Seek out outdoor activities, like raking leaves and gardening.

In a nutshell, active people live longer than those who are inactive -- and they tend to have higher self-esteem and to be in better moods more of the time. The more fit we are, the lower our risk of dying from any causes. Both the old and the newer guidelines recommend that, in order to reduce the risk of heart disease, you should expend at least 1,000 calories per week in exercising.
For further information, see:
Physical Activity, Part 1: Start with a walk. Harvard Women’s Health Watch. June 2001;VIII(10):3-4.