Life Fit with Laura Lewis ... What get's you revved up?

Being Life Fit is about your total health, including the health of all of your relationships. Life Fit is a journey, not a destination. It is a process of continuous growth: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Check in each Tuesday to Life Fit with Laura Lewis, author of "52 Ways To A Healthy You," as we explore our total life fitness. Then, weigh in with your own thoughts over at Laura's "Life Fit Chat" each Wednesday through Friday for further discussion on the week's topic. For more information visit Laura at www.LauraLewis.com

Did you know that exercise is actually a mood booster and has been shown to alleviate both anxiety and depression? People who exercise regularly are better able to deal with stress than those who don't, and in turn reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol--which has been linked with weight gain--in their bodies. People who exercise aerobically recover from a stressful event faster. A fit person during a stress test on a treadmill will experience a quicker return to a normal heart rate and blood pressure than a more sedentary person of the same weight. And I like this tidbit...A healthy person's arteries are flexible and open up during stress. On the other hand, a person with cardiovascular disease has constricted or inflexible arteries that keep his heart rate and blood pressure high after stress. Research shows that people who exercise on a daily basis can handle stress more readily than a person who does not exercise. Gotta love it.

Our bodies have the ability to produce natural opiates or morphine-like chemicals. When they are released in the brain, they inhabit cells that deal with pain, behavior, pleasure and emotions! During exercise your pituitary gland releases more of one of these agents called beta endorphin. The exercise high has been traced to more of this chemical traveling through your bloodstream. People who experience this often refer to it as euphoric. So, exercising aerobically not only benefits your heart and lung system, it gives your brain a workout too. The blood flow to your brain increases up to one-third more than at resting states. Exercise can also stimulate creativity by creating an alpha or relaxing state in your brain-wave activity. Thus, creative blocks can be destroyed simply by taking a thirty minute spin on your bike! Exercise can boost many areas in your life! If you suffer from bouts of PMS, depression or anxiety you might want to seriously consider a trip to the gym, go for a brisk walk or even just turn on music at home and dance your heart out for twenty minutes or so! Believe me...it works!

Action Tips

• If you have moderate stress in your life, exercising aerobically thirty to sixty minutes three to four times per week will be a great benefit to you.
  
• For those who consider their stress level to be high, exercising twenty minutes six to seven times per week will reduce the negative side effects of stress.
  
• Practicing yoga or similar movements has also been shown to open the door to release beneficial endorphins.
  

Get On the Up & Up With Endorphins

• People who are wound up tight were found to have less electrical activity or sparks that caused tension in their muscle flow.
  
• The average result of an exercise session is a euphoric or endorphin high for up to two hours per workout.
  

Rev UP your exercise regime and boost your heart health, as well as your mental health by simply getting a move on! Or should I say get your groove on?! So, what kind of exercise do you do to get you going?