Exercise

I love Macrobiotics for Life by Simon Brown for its simplicity:



There are many forms of exercise. Gardening, cleaning, walking, and other similar activities require movement and use up energy. These for a gentle approach to exercise that involve movement and rest. We can sustain this kid of activity for most of the day.

Aerobic exercise is when we exercise at a rate that elevates our pulse and requires faster breathing. Here our body is expending energy more rapidly, but not so quickly that we could not, for example, hold conversation with someone. This could be achieved through activities like fast walking, jogging, running, tennis, football, basketball, swimming, and volleyball.

Anaerobic exercise takes us to a point where, through intense, vigorous exercise, we create more lactic acid than we eliminate from our blood. This is generally not recommended; for most people it is not particularly healthy. Examples would be running up a mountain, running up a hill carrying a heavy wight, lifting very heavy weights quickly, or fighting.

Aerobic exercise causes our hearts to pump our blood more rapidly so that we can move energy to our muscles more quickly. this strengthens our hearts and improves our blood circulation as the blood moves freely through our arteries to our muscles. At the same time we will experience an increased rate of breathing as we need to absorb more oxygen. This enriches our blood with oxygen. In the process, we exercise our lungs and increase in the rate of biological processes that get oxygen into our blood.

Our bodies respond well to use. By using our muscles regularly, we keep them in a state of good health. Too little use and they waste away. similarly, being physically active keeps our nervous systems exercised and healthy. Research indicates that regular exercise even helps keep our bones healthy and reduces the risk of osteoporosis, a state where our bones lose mass and become brittle.