The latest research on exercise is optimistic - you do not need impractical levels of exercise to be healthy.

You start to benefit from quite a low level programme. Undertake moderate exercise 3 times per week for 20 minutes at a rate that raises your heart rate by 30% and which causes you to sweat and raise your breathing level.

That's enough to begin to lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL, the protective cholesterol, to lower blood pressure and improve muscle tone. You may even lose weight!

But you probably know all that. So here is a fact that you should consider.

Being unfit carries a similar risk of heart disease as smoking 20 cigarettes a day!

You might want to re-read that fact.

Cars, lifts, motor mowers, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers and washing machines offer us more productivity and leisure time. Nothing wrong with that – except that we evolved to walk, move and work.

Consequently we expend about half the energy of our recent ancestors and that makes weight control all the more difficult and it reduces our health-span.

What exercise does for you.

So many people complain they “haven’t time” to exercise. They do have time to go to work, to watch TV, to have a drink with friends. But they haven’t time to do something that:

It’s a question of priorities!

So make weight control and optimising health easier on yourself. Find a form of exercise that you enjoy – and make it part of your life. The key word is enjoy, because the only effective type of exercise is the type you do!

Look for an exercise pattern that combines aerobic and muscle building exercise in an enjoyable way.

If you are a woman, don’t be put off by the word ‘muscle’ – it merely means increasing proportion of ‘lean body mass’ to fat.

You’ll find an excellent and realistic free exercise programme on the 5 A Day Diet site.
For the full programme you need to be a member of the diet site. However, it’s very easy - just fill in the Registration Form and then you can find all the exercise advice - and more - in the section       "31 days of Advice".