Dr. Roizen: Healthy habit No. 1 – get moving!

By Dr. Michael Roizen

You can live many years longer and healthier if you take a proactive approach to aging. So if you don’t already know – first-hand – the amazing benefits of exercise, stick with me here and I’ll describe them. Then, hopefully, you’ll start moving.

If you’re like the rest of us, your life is stressful. Exercise will help you relax, and leave you feeling happier. Truly, it will. It’s the “feel good” brain chemicals that are released when you walk or work out.

To get the physical activity you need, I recommend walking 30 minutes a day – every day – at any pace you feel comfortable with. A comfortable pace typically gets your heart rate to 90 to 100 beats per minute. I encourage my patients to wear a pedometer every day, and once or twice a month to monitor their heart rate.

Then, as you slowly feel and look better, your mood will improve even more. You’ll be more confident and think more highly of yourself. You’ll think: “Look at what I’ve done. I’m awesome!” In that kind of mental and emotional environment, it’s hard to feel depressed or anxious. Give it a try!

OK, face it. As you celebrate more birthdays, you need to pay attention to heart disease, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and more. But hopefully you’ll keep these chronic diseases at a safe distance from you. Eating right and exercising are the two best ways to do that. Regular exercise can help you prevent or manage any of these chronic diseases.

Exercise is the magic sleeping pill. In fact, lack of sleep can cause health problems, and health problems can cause sleep problems. When you’re a regular exerciser, you’ll fall asleep faster and sleep deeper. Just don’t exercise too close to bedtime.

You’ll feel better, and look better, and sleep better. And, because exercise does all this and improves your lungs and heart, you’ll be way more inclined to have sex with your partner.

Exercise can be great fun – whether you’re walking or playing tennis, dancing, doing aerobics, or just playing with the kids.

As I’ve said, walking every day is my recommended exercise. Then, once you’ve done that for 30 days every day – no excuses! – you should add resistance training. Our book, YOU: Staying Young: The Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty, co-authored with Dr. Mehmet Oz, has a guide to specific exercises that will help you integrate workout movements into your everyday life.

You can also download for free the original YOU Workout featured in our previous book YOU: On a Diet, from our YOU DOCs realage.com. You’ll find an additional Chi-gong workout on the Website. Remember, your body is your gym – so you can work out anywhere. Just get moving!

Want to find out if your body is actually younger – or older – than your calendar age? Take the free RealAge test. You’ll get a personalized plan to feel and be younger and a list of the things that are making you younger or older.

A nationally renowned expert, Michael Roizen, M.D., or “Dr. Mike,” is personable, witty, and full of important health insights imparted through his books, a radio show, and his Website, www.realage.com.  He’s also chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, where he practices both internal medicine and anesthesiology. He’s listed – along with his physician wife – as one of the 1,000 Best Doctors in the United States.

At the age of 61, Dr. Mike has also been a top-ranked squash player. His RealAge books and his “YOU” books – coauthored with Dr. Mehmet Oz – YOU: On a Diet, YOU: The Owner’s Manual,YOU: Staying Young and YOU: The Smart Patient – are runaway bestsellers. His radio show, “YOU: The Owner’s Manual with Dr. Michael Roizen,” is sponsored by Humana and heard on radio stations nationwide. His Website, www.realage.com, has a program aimed at helping health-conscious consumers stop biological aging and live longer, more exciting lives.