[blindweightwatcher] ** HOW MUCH EXERCISE IS ENOUGH?

From: "Jan Bailey" <jb021951@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blindweightwatcher@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 17:48:32 -0600
** HOW MUCH EXERCISE IS ENOUGH?

* Do you get enough exercise?  How much exercise is enough? These
questions are answered in new guidelines from The American Heart
Association and the American College of Sports Medicine.  Here's what
they recommend.

A low level of physical activity is one of the most important factors
in the high and rising rate of obesity in the United States. Becoming
physically active can have a tremendous impact on your total daily
energy expenditure.

For example, a sedentary person burns just a few hundred calories
above his or her resting metabolic rate while going about daily
activities (performing household chores or walking to the mailbox, for
example), whereas someone who exercises regularly at a moderate pace
doing light gardening or yard work, walking, or dancing can burn an
additional 150 calories per half hour -- and build muscle mass.
Exercises that build strength also raise the resting metabolic rate
because muscle requires more energy for maintenance.

With this in mind, we note the new exercise guidelines released by The
American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine
and reported in the journal Circulation (Volume 116, page 1094):

Adults ages 65 and older should engage in at least 30 minutes of
moderate-intensity aerobic activity five days a week or at least 20
minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity three days a week. A
mix of the two intensities (for instance, brisk walking for 30 minutes
and jogging for 20 minutes twice a week each) as well as short bursts
of exercise for 10 minutes each will suffice. These exercise
recommendations are the same as those for ages 1865, except what is
considered aerobic activity for the older group may be less intense
depending on a person's fitness level.

Older people are also recommended to perform both strength-training
exercises and flexibility exercises at least twice a week as well as
balance exercises. The exercise guidelines -- which update
recommendations issued in 1995 -- highlight that the more exercise one
engages in, the better the health-protective benefits. Previously,
light-intensity activities of daily living, like casual walking and
grocery shopping, could be counted toward one's daily exercise total;
now, however, it's believed that they aren't performed for a long
enough period of time (if less than ten minutes) or at enough
intensity to offer the needed benefit.
[blindweightwatcher] ** HOW MUCH EXERCISE IS ENOUGH?

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