{"id":29074,"date":"2015-03-23T04:45:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=29074"},"modified":"2015-03-23T04:45:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T09:45:00","slug":"exercising-matters-for-your-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/exercising-matters-for-your-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Exercising Now Matters for Your Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sometimes talk with people who say they don\u2019t have enough time to exercise. The older I get the more that reminds me of people who say they don\u2019t have enough money to save for retirement.<\/p>\n\n

I can relate. When I was younger and rising in my career, I rarely made time to exercise. I was too busy killing it to realize it was killing me. And it almost did.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve shared before, it took a significant health scare<\/a> for me to reorganize my priorities. My time at the office went down, and time with my family went up. So did time on my feet\u2014usually running. Nowadays I exercise five or six days a week. I hate missing it.<\/p>\n

Skipping exercise to work or play is like trying to increase your checking account by starving your retirement fund. It doesn\u2019t actually work. We\u2019re just redistributing pleasure and pain\u2014more pleasure now, more pain later.<\/p>\n

It seems okay when we\u2019re young, but it\u2019s catastrophic as we age. The short-term gains turn out to be false. And we miss out on the long-term benefits that regular exercise brings.<\/p>\n

Here are three powerful reasons exercising is like dumping gobs of money in your 401(k), and why shorting the contribution is only shorting yourself.<\/p>\n

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  1. It will make you healthy.<\/strong> If we want to control our weight, lower our stress, stay strong, increase our energy levels, reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, and generally live longer, then exercise is the answer.\n

    \u201cOnly a few lifestyle choices have as large an impact on your health as physical activity,\u201d according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. Exercise actually slows the effects of aging<\/a> on our cells.<\/p>\n

    And you don\u2019t have to become a gym rat or triathlete to reap the rewards. \u201cYou can put yourself at lower risk of dying early by doing at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity,\u201d according to the CDC. That\u2019s less than twenty-five minutes a day. Even a brisk walk<\/a> is helpful.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. It will make you focused and smart.<\/strong> Exercise is not only good for the body; it\u2019s also good for the brain.\n

    Aerobic exercise like running can significantly improve our ability to focus<\/a>. I\u2019ve been running for years now and can vouch for that. Aerobic exercise also improves memory<\/a> and is more effective than \u201cbrain games\u201d in keeping our minds young<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    One of the reasons is that exercise actually spurs growth in certain parts of our brain. Researchers think the reason is increased blood flow and oxygen<\/a>. But whatever the cause they say, \u201cthe evidence for the beneficial effects of physical exercise on increasing brain volume and enhancing cognition within developing children and older adults is quite convincing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. It might even make you rich.<\/strong> Researchers in Finland followed 5,000 male twins for almost thirty years. By tracking which were active and which were sedentary, they determined that regular exercise contributed to 14 to 17 percent higher long-term income levels.\n

    What\u2019s the secret? It turns out that regular exercise forms the kind of character that wins in the marketplace. According to the researchers<\/a>, it \u201cmake[s] people more persistent in the face of work-related difficulties, and increase their desire to engage in competitive situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\t\t