EVEN A LITTLE MAY GO A LONG WAY

It's long been recommended that you exercise a certain amount of time to increase your heart rate in order for the exercise to be of any physical value. A recent study however has shown that even a brief exercise period of ten minutes or so is of some value.

This is so much easier to fit into a busy day rather than making an hour of exercise your routine. If you have the time and can do an hour that's great you'll gain more benefit, but if you're not up to it or don't have the time, you can incorporate little bits of walking into your life.

If you can walk to the store do so. If you have to drive, park farther from the door than usual. It's sometimes more of a time waster waiting to get that closest spot to park, and it's lazier too.

In this study, women were broken up into four groups of different exercise lengths and although the women that exercised longer got the most benefits, the women who did just 10 to 30 minutes showed benefits and improvements.

A short while ago my husband and I had to walk six blocks over snow and ice to get to the store because our car died. When we got there we passed a gym next to the grocery store. In the window you could see people on treadmills working out. One young lady just left the gym and ran to her car which of course was parked as close to the door as possible. We just looked at each other and laughed. We got our workout without paying a cent and felt better for it. The point is, there is nothing wrong with joining a gym with machines, but it's better to learn to incorporate good health habits into your daily life and not just leave the exercise for when you're at the gym.