Exercise to Stay Healthy: Brief Version

How does exercise help me stay healthy?

Exercise helps both your body and your mind. It helps lower your risk of disease. It helps you feel better.

When you exercise every day, you can lower your chances of having:

• a stroke
• heart disease
• diabetes.

Exercise can lower your:

• blood pressure
• blood cholesterol
• blood sugar.

Exercise helps your mood. It changes how you feel. Exercise helps you:

• Have more energy.
• Sleep well.

How do I start to exercise?

Always check with your health care provider before you start an exercise program. If you have any health problems, talk to your provider about what exercises would be right for you.

Choose exercises that:

• You enjoy.
• Fit into your schedule.
• Allow for any health problems.

Do warm-up exercises every time you exercise.

• Gently stretch your muscles for 5 to 10 minutes.
• When you stretch, you make your muscles less tight. You are less likely to hurt yourself.

You can walk to warm up. It gets your blood flowing.

What types of exercises should I do?

You do not need to exercise really hard to be healthy. You can do exercises at a low or medium level and stay fit. It depends on your health needs. Ask your health care provider what is right for you. You could:

• Stretch. It helps the muscles be less tight.
• Lift weights. It helps you make your muscles stronger.
• Do aerobics. It gives your lungs and heart a good workout. This helps you use oxygen better. It sends blood to your muscles. It strengthens your heart, lungs, and muscles.

There are many kinds of aerobic exercises. You can:

• Walk fast.
• Swim.
• Run.
• Jog.

You might like to:

• Climb stairs.
• Bicycle.
• Use a stationary bicycle.
• Dance.

It can be fun to:

• Ice skate or roller skate.
• Take aerobics classes.
• Go cross-country skiing.
• Row a boat.

What else do I need to know?

You may want to count the calories you burn when you exercise. There are many ways to burn calories.

You burn 4 to 6 calories per minute when you:

• Walk 2 to 4 miles an hour.
• Bicycle 6 to 9 miles an hour.
• Play badminton.
• Do housework.
• Dance.
• Rake leaves.
• Play doubles tennis.

You burn 6 to 8 calories per minute when you:

• Walk 5 miles an hour.
• Bicycle 10 miles an hour or skate.
• Shovel dirt or snow.
• Have sex.
• Play singles tennis.
• Downhill ski or water-ski.

You burn 8 to 10 calories per minute when you:

• Jog 5 miles an hour
• Bicycle 12 miles an hour.
• Play basketball.
• Go mountain-climbing.
• Dig a ditch.

You burn 10 to 12 calories per minute when you:

• Jog 6 miles an hour.
• Go cross-country skiing.
• Play squash or handball.
• Swim.

Right after you exercise, do cool-down exercises for 5 to 10 minutes. When you do cool-down exercises, you help:

• Your heart rate and breathing go back to normal.
• Stop muscle stiffness.

You can walk to help you cool down. It is also good to stretch after you exercise. This keeps your muscles from getting tight.