Anything doing is worth putting off. Especially exercise.

Unlocking the mystery of avoiding a heart attack

Anything worth doing is worth putting off. Especially exercise.

This was one of my favorite lines in my pre exercise life. I had considered joining Procrastinators Anonymous until I discovered that they never get around to having meetings.

Procrastination and excuses go together like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. One of the best excuses I’ve heard for avoiding exercise is “The dog ate my workout shoes.”

I’m certainly no expert in psychology but those who delve into the intricate workings of the human brain tell us that one of the key reasons we procrastinate doing cardio exercise is fear.

Fear can freeze us like a deer caught in the headlights of an on coming car.

Fear of failure, fear of the unknown or even the fear of feeling stupid can cause us to be very resourceful and imaginative in the excuse department. Occasionally fear can also prompt us into action.

Although it has been 13 years ago I remember well the uneasy feeling in my gut as I rearranged my priorities while waiting for the heart surgeon to replace six clogged arteries.

Maureen, a new exerciser, has allowed me to share how fear recently prompted her to action.

“When my Dad had four strokes I got scared. I didn’t want this to happen to me if I could prevent it and my doctor said I needed to start exercising and get the excess weight off. I always thought that exercise would be too hard and take too much time but had always told my kids that there is always time to do the important things in life. I realized that I wasn’t following my own advice.

Sometimes I would sit and think and the rest of the time I would just sit. “I found out that the exercise isn’t hard at all and my blood sugar has dropped an average of 40 points.”

Maureen in on the road to improved health and her enthusiasm is contagious. We discuss in another column how humans have a deep-seated natural tendency to avoid activity. I understand this completely…but why then do we think we have to come up with excuses.

Why don’t we stand up like a man or woman and say,

“I’m not going to exercise? I don’t care how good it is for me. I’m as healthy as I want to be and I sure as heck don’t need any more energy.”

Not exercising is extremely hazardous to our heath. In fact a sedentary life style is equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes per day.

The best aerobic exercise will reduce stress, improve mental function, increase energy help you sleep better and improve your sex life...just to mention a few of the benefits.

A new landmark study shows that one’s level of fitness has more to do with longevity than a host of other factors, including smoking, high blood pressure or a history of heart disease.

If you have a high level of fitness your risk of dying of a heart attack may be reduced by nearly 300% compared to people with a low fitness level.

Studies also show that thinner men who were out of shape were nearly three times more likely to die young than fat men who were fit.

Exercise is good medicine. A wise person said, “Motion is the potion.” Have you had your dose today?

Gene

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