Carole Carson

When you’re debating whether to exercise today or skip it, you might want to review the list of benefits below. I suggest you post this list on the bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator door or any place where you can easily review it to help yourself stay on track. Items on the list will remind you of the benefits that today’s efforts will provide:

• Reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• Raise the good artery-clearing HDL cholesterol
• Help control your blood pressure
• Decrease your risk of osteoporosis and diabetes
• Help you manage your weight
• Protect against cancer
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Improve your mood and chase away depression
• Help you feel younger
• Improve your balance, reflex time and posture
• Make you smarter (Exercise is the number one recommendation for improving mental functioning.)

Each morning when I begin my hour-long floor routine, I remember a saying about how we can either make time for exercise today or make time for sickness tomorrow.

So when internal pressure to begin my work day tempts me to skip my exercise routine, I remind myself of the benefits of exercise and the wisdom in making time for health today. The decision then becomes easy: I make caring for my body the first priority of the day.