Healthy living

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Exercise 30 minutes a day

Exercise - a powerful tool

Exercise with friends

Healthy habits

While maintaining good health habits cannot guarantee a longer life, it can certainly improve the quality of your life. The following few simple factors, if practiced regularly, can help minimize the risk of illness and enrich life:

• Exercise regularly
• Avoid smoking and drug abuse
• Drink no more than a moderate amount alcohol, if any (don't drink any alcohol if you have a history of alcoholism).
• Control your weight
• Keep a balanced and healthy diet
• Take care of your teeth
• Manage high blood pressure
• Follow good safety practices

EXERCISE

Exercise is a key factor in staying healthy. Exercise strengthens the bones, heart, and lungs, tones muscles, improves vitality, relieves depression, and helps you sleep better.

If you are just starting an exercise program and have any pre-existing conditions, such as obesity, hypertension, or diabetes, ask your doctor about an exercise stress test. This test will help you establish safe limits for your exercise program.

Tips for healthy exercise:

• Begin exercising gradually, perhaps with brisk walking. Don't expect to "get into shape" overnight. Your fitness should start to improve within 3 months, provided you maintain a consistent regimen.
• You should work hard enough to sweat during each exercise period, but not so hard that you cannot carry on a conversation.
• Plan an exercise routine that lasts 20 - 30 minutes, and perform the workout at least 3 - 5 days a week. Include stretching before and after your exercise. This will help avoid injury. Remember to start slowly and listen to your body. If it hurts badly, then you are probably overdoing it.
• While exercises such as weight lifting develop strength in the muscles, they do little for the fitness of the heart. Aerobic exercises strengthen the heart and lungs and should be part of the fitness routine. Examples of good aerobic exercises include walking, running, jogging, swimming, cross-country skiing, rowing, rope skipping, dancing, racket sports, and cycling. For the biggest benefit, aerobic exercise must be sustained for at least a 10- to 12-minute period.