Advice from Three Professionals

Jeannine Chobotar, Physical Therapist

“One of the major health problems people face today in our country is inactivity. When people are inactive or have very low levels of activity, their muscles begin to atrophy. That means they get smaller and weaker.

“A hundred years ago people got most of the exercise they needed just by doing their chores and other daily activities. It kept them strong enough that they didn’t need health clubs, stationary bikes, or exercise programs to stay healthy. Today, however, with our sedentary lifestyles, we have to make a conscious, consistent effort to exercise and stay healthy so our muscles don’t grow small and weak.

“Because our bodies are living, changing organisms, it is really impossible for us to stay at a constant level of health physically, so we must strengthen our body by challenging it, pushing it bit by bit. Some people deceive themselves by thinking that if they just eat healthfully they will have good health. While a good diet is important, it’s not enough. If you’re not challenging your body, you’re not strengthening it, and all the functions of your body start declining.

“Another problem with inactivity is that inactive muscles become stiff and more open to injury. That makes flexibility a crucial part of physical conditioning. When you are active and challenging your muscles, a stretching process takes place that adds flexibility and strength, making injury less likely.

“When I work with patients, I try to emphasize the importance of being active every day, not just two or three times a week. I usually give them ‘homework,’ exercises they can to do at home. As we get closer to the end of our treatments, I encourage them to maintain their exercise in any way that motivates them. As soon as people stop exercising they start getting weaker again, so it’s very important to remain active.

“Endurance, built up by aerobic and cardiovascular training, is also a vital component of physical health. Such exercises work the heart and lungs, causing them to become stronger and more efficient. Endurance exercise elevates the heart rate for a sustained period of time and gives you more energy throughout the day. This type of exercise is especially important for people who spend most of their day on a job that doesn’t require much physical exertion. When you train your heart through endurance training, you will have more energy!

“Strength training, flexibility training, and endurance training. Be sure to include all of them in your exercise plan. You will feel less tired, you will feel more motivated, and you will have a greater joy for life in general. Activity makes you feel good!”
Brenda Duerksen, Registered Nurse and Health Educator “When a patient first comes into my office and clearly is not living at an optimum level of health, I usually begin by asking them what kind of exercise they get. Unfortunately, the typical answer is ‘I do not exercise at all.’

“Many patients I see get so little exercise that they have a hard time just doing the day-to-day things. They are in such poor physical shape that just the effort it takes to move around is extremely tiring.

“When I think about the importance of activity, several of the patients I work with come to mind. One of them is a little woman in her 70s who has diabetes Type II, which means she’s not on insulin but taking the anti-diabetic medication. She was having a difficult time keeping her blood sugar levels in the proper range. I challenged her to start a regular walking program, exercising every day, if possible. She did, and brought her blood sugar levels down about 30 points in three months while also losing five or six pounds. When she came back for a follow-up visit she was glowing. Sold on walking, she is determined to make these changes stick for the rest of her life.

“Anyone can exercise. If you are homebound, there are all sorts of interesting exercises that can be done in the home just for the legs. If you can get to a shopping mall, most malls have daily walking programs in which you can stroll with others in safety before the stores open.

“The most difficult part to adopting a more active, healthy lifestyle is not picking what kind of exercise to do, where to do it, or how often to do it. It is actually doing it!

“We urge three helpful tools for our patients:

1. Find an exercise partner. If you have a buddy you have to meet at the corner or who is going to stop by and pick you up, it is a great motivator.
2. List the benefits. When you write down the anticipated benefits, you are more likely to stick with an exercise activity. Think about losing weight, breathing better, sleeping more soundly, avoiding headaches, not feeling so fatigued, and finding new joy with your friends and family.
3. Consider the alternatives. Sometimes the scare tactic is the best motivation.

“Recent studies have shown an ever-increasing problem with childhood obesity. Some reports indicate that the number of overweight children is doubling every 10 to 20 years. Unfortunately, children learn from adults. They watch us, and learn it is OK to sit in front of a television or computer for hours and hours and hours. Less and less often we see children outside running around the yard, jumping rope, climbing trees, riding bikes, and swimming. But these are normal things children like to do, activities that will help them enjoy God’s prescription for health.

“One of the best things for a healthy family to do together is to participate in more physical activities. Plan events that get you into the outdoors doing active things you find enjoyable. Activities shared together are rewarding, both in terms of growing relationships and increased health.”
Rhonda Ringer, M.D., Family Practice Physician “In my primary care practice I’ve found that there is almost no patient who cannot benefit by increased physical activity. In fact, I believe such activity may be the best medicine there is for practically any health problem because it strengthens the body to fight disease. I think people grasp this principle instinctively because they usually tell me, ‘Oh yeah, I know I need to exercise more.’
“The reason so many don’t exercise isn’t really a lack of awareness; the problem is busy schedules that lead to overloaded lifestyles. Once we abandon exercise, everything starts to flop out of kilter. Weight goes up, we do not sleep as well, anxiety increases, sugar gets out of control, blood pressure creeps up, and cholesterol rises.

“But none of that needs to happen. Exercise makes a difference! In my experience, people uniformly feel better and sleep better when they exercise. That’s 100 percent of the time!

“When active people have fallen out of practice, I remind them about how good they felt and the results they achieved when they were active. If those memories can be restimulated in their brain, they are much more likely to say, ‘Yeah, I need to start doing that again, because I felt so much better then.’ Some remember how their blood sugar stayed under control or their blood pressure lowered. Others recall how they gained 10 pounds in three months when they stopped exercising. If I can reconnect them to the positive things they remember from when they were active, it’s much easier for them to get back into it again.
“If people have never been very active, or they tell me they hate exercise, that’s much more difficult. I may start by reminding them of some of the benefits they will reap from getting active. We’re not discussing the Olympics here—we’re talking about starting out just 10 minutes a day. Most people tell me that they can do 10 minutes a day. Then I ask them if they can do it every day. If not, I get them to do it as many days a week as they can. Ten minutes a day can help you feel 100 percent better!
“Occasionally someone will ask me what my favorite exercises are for staying healthy. That’s easy. My favorite exercises are just that—doing whatever I enjoy most.

“Whatever physical activity that you can do and enjoy doing is what you should do. For example, if an older individual tells me that they love to pull weeds in their garden or work in their yard for 15 minutes at a time, I say, ‘Super duper.’ I recommend what is easiest and most economical, because that is what is going to be incorporated with the best success.

“When we talk about exercise, we often discuss it in terms of its benefits to such conditions as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, and heart disease. Three of the best results of consistent exercise are stress release, depression release, and insomnia release. Though we don’t talk about it much, increased activity can significantly improve all these conditions, because it raises the level of the endorphins in our body that are the body’s own ‘uppers.’ Activity dissipates the epinephrine, and norepinephrine the stress hormones. It drops the cortisol, an immune system depressor. A number of studies show that a program of activity over a period of several weeks is as effective as a prescription antidepressant for depression treatment.

“I believe it is more difficult to listen to what God is whispering into our souls when we are overstimulated. If we can exercise while enjoying nature, it can be a time when we really come together mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Such activity helps us to calm down, quiet the spirit, and silence the clamor in our brain. Exercise provides time to decide where we’re headed and what choices are best. It allows us time to examine what God thinks and what He wants us to do versus what society or our employer is demanding that we do. All of us need to have quiet time to stop and process.

“By the way, exercise can also improve our relationships. Take a revitalizing walk in the evening or a refreshing walk in the morning with someone you love. Couples who do tell me it is one of the best times they have for sharing together. It’s an opportunity for coming together, of cherishing each other without a lot of distractions.

“The act of exercising is an antidepressant, encouraging, strengthening, feel-good-about-yourself medication in and of itself. It puts you in a frame of mind to enable you to relate more positively to people around you. No pill can do that as well as muscle movement, especially when it is done outdoors regularly with friends!”