Does Your Workout Feel Like Work?

Exercise and fitness image.

Are you one of the ones who think you need to sweat buckets and engage in some heavy breathing for the activity you are engaged in to be called exercise? Well think again. Lots of activities that don’t seem like exercise actually are, especially when you pick up the pace a bit!

Take for example gardening. Exercise you say? Uh huh, exercise. Outside work such as mowing the lawn, turning the soil in your garden, raking leaves, digging to plant new flowers – all of these require that you use your whole body while you’re working. Not to mention all the stretching, lifting, and a moderate cardiovascular exercise you get as well!

How about housework? Sure, that’s another form of aerobic exercise, especially when you move heavy objects, dance around the house with your duster or run the vacuum.

Known as “lifestyle physical activity,” gardening and housekeeping are actually forms of weight-bearing exercise that can help lower high blood pressure and encourage and maintain proper bone health.

Other creative ways to add weight-bearing exercise to your daily routine include:
  • Taking your dog for a 30-minute walk, or two 15-minute walks, each day
  • Taking the steps or walking up the escalators at your office, while shopping, or wherever possible.
  • Dancing – make a date with your spouse or significant other and get out on the dance floor and dance, dance, dance!
  • Walk all or part of the way to the gym, the office or anywhere else you have to go.

Regular physical activity improves health, prevents or reduces the risk for developing many types of disease (heart disease, certain types of cancer, diabetes), improves your mood and maintains your weight. And a beautiful garden and a clean house are fantastic side effects too!

 Dr. Todd Asks some important questions of interest to Fort Myers residents - Chiropractor Fort Myers Dr. Todd Asks...

How do you know when you're healthy?
Ask most Fort Myers residents this simple question and you're likely to hear, "When you feel good" or "When you're at your proper weight for your height" or "When you have lots of energy and vitality." Great answers. But our chiropractic patients know that true health is when your body is working as it was designed. True health is how you function, not how you feel.
What's a side effect?
It may sound like a bonus; something extra, but chiropractors know it should more accurately called an "unintended effect," and "unwanted effect" or in some cases an "adverse effect." A pill can't come close to matching your body's ability to create and deliver the essential compounds it needs. That's when it's important to make sure your nervous system is working correctly—the purpose of chiropractic care!