It might be frustrating, but the effort involved in trying to exercise more is normally worth it in the end. Put simply, people who exercise regularly live longer than those who don’t. If you care about longevity, you need to care about exercise.

There’s been a lot of research into how exercise impacts life expectancy (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395188/). Basically, it dramatically decreases your risk of developing the conditions that can kill you early, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, heart disease, strokes and cancer. They’re all less common in people who exercise regularly.

Exercise done properly improves the health of your heart and lungs, strengthens bones and muscles, and can even have a positive impact on your mental health. All these things are likely to make your life longer and better.

While there’s a lot of room for variation in how you exercise, some of it does need to be hard enough to get your blood pumping. You need aerobic activity (the energetic kind that gets you out of breath) as well as strength and mobility training. A well-rounded routine will cover everything.

You do still need to be careful about injury, especially if you already have health problems. Pushing too hard, too fast can cause damage that will make things more difficult in the long run. From pulled muscles to broken bones and head injuries, failing to train safely can cause a whole range of issues.

Get to know your own body and what it’s capable of, and learn how far you can push without causing harm. Talk to doctors, physical therapists, personal trainers and other experts who can advise you based on your specific needs. Make sure that the rest of your lifestyle is designed to augment your exercise, such as eating and sleeping properly and giving up smoking.

Everyone’s a bit different in terms of what they get from exercise, but no one benefits from ignoring it completely. If you want to live a long life, it’s one of the most important things you can do.

The post Path To A Long Life appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

If you want to emulate them, there may be one simple practice that you can learn from the residents of Okinawa (https://www.bluezones.com/2020/07/why-the-okinawan-practice-of-sitting-on-the-floor-is-linked-to-health-mobility-and-longevity-how-you-can-practice-it-at-home/#). Rather than sitting on a chair, try to make a habit of sitting on the floor. It doesn’t sound like much, but you’d be amazed what it can do.

Sitting on the floor means having to regularly stand back up and sit down again. That’s exercise. Every time you do it, you work your muscles, from your core to your back to your legs. If you take up residence on the floor every time you eat or talk to a friend, or even just when you are relaxing, you’re going to be standing up again dozens of times in a single day. That’s a lot of muscle work.

It’s not only the standing up part that can have positive benefits. If you’re sitting properly on the floor, your posture can also improve. Research indicates that your overall musculoskeletal fitness will improve, with benefits to mobility and flexibility as well as strength.

In fact, studies suggest that people who can sit on the floor and then stand up again without needing extra support are more likely to have long lives overall. There is a genetic component to longevity, but even more important is our environment and how we live. Sitting and standing are such small things, but they can have a big impact.

We all know how important exercise is to health, but that doesn’t mean activity should be confined to the odd trip to the gym. The more active you are throughout the day, even if it’s only small activities, the better. By designing your home in such a way that you force yourself to move more, you are giving yourself the best chance to improve not just your longevity, but your quality of life.

Of course, there’s more to living like an Okinawan than sitting on the floor, and this is only one aspect of your overall lifestyle, but it may still be something worth giving a try.

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