We've all heard that it is important to exercise. The experts tell us we should exercise every day. I will be the first to agree with you that there are some people who smoke like a chimney, drink alcohol like a fish, eat junk food daily and still live to be 100 years old. This is definitely the exception and not the rule. How many of these people do you know? I don't know any. On the other hand I do know many who live a much healthier lifestyle and exercise regularly.



The choice is entirely up to us as individuals. Are we really willing to take the risk? Exercise, and for that matter, daily exercise should be non negotiable. As the cliche goes, 'Just Do It'. Maybe to give an example - have you ever been in a car that has only been driven to church and back on Sundays, and then a teenager takes it on the expressway at wide open throttle. Initially it is quite sluggish; it hasn't been through those paces for a while. Similarly our bodies need to be kept active and in tip top shape.

We pick up toxins daily, from our environment, from the food and drinks we consume, from the stress of daily life. Our body deals with these toxins as best as it can. But when we have too many toxins our body does what it can and then it leaves the rest for another time. Well think about it, if we keep storing more and more toxins, then over time aren't we creating the environment for something major to happen. We are setting ourselves up for a major explosion. If we don't deal with these toxins our body will deal with them as best it can, and it will do it in its way, likely not what we would have chosen.

Have you ever gotten a little sniffle, then taken a couple of aspirin and continued your busy schedule. A couple of days later a fever starts and you know you should get some rest, but the report has to get done and you get 3 hours of sleep and grab some junk food instead of a good meal. Your body has been trying to get your attention, the sniffle was a tap on the shoulder, the fever was a stronger tap, but since you ignored those hits your body smacks you across the side of the head with a 2 by 4 and now a week later you have the flue, pneumonia or worse. Had you taken care of yourself, gotten exercise and rest this would not have happened, or it definitely would not have been as bad.

Our bodies can handle a certain amount of stress, this is a natural process. It is when this stress gets out of hand, and in these hectic days it seems to be more of the norm. Exercise is our body's way of physically releasing this stress. In other words by exercising we improve our ability to cope with the every day stress, and we improve our health. Therefore the bottom line is exercising needs to be a vital part of our everyday lives.