Myths and Benefits of Exercise

The following is an excerpt from Medica's newsletter, "Take Control", Fall, 2012...

MYTHS....

No pain, no gain?  No way!  That exercise myth can be dangerous. Pain is often a sign of injury or overexertion.  Pay attention to pain and seek appropriate medical care.

Exercise is boring.  If exercise bores you, you're doing the wrong exercise.  Try different kinds of activities until you find some you enjoy.  Underwater basket weaving anyone?

Exercise is dangerous.  The benefits of exercise far outnumber risks such as muscle strains. Exercise reduces your risk for many serious health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Exercise will make me gain weight. It's true that muscle weighs more than fat. But using the right exercise techniques can help you shed pounds while toning your muscles.

I'll never have six-pack abs anyway. The point of exercise is not to win bodybuilding contests.  It's to make you look better and be better.

Exercise takes up too much time.  Any amount of exercise is better than none at all.  Start slowly.  For example, walk for 10 minutes in the morning, at lunch and in the evening.

BENEFITS...

On average, people who exercise live longer. An international study published in 2011 found that only 15 minutes of exercise per day may increase life expectancy.

Exercise helps you sleep.  Regular exercise can help you get to sleep and improve the quality of your sleep.  Just be careful not to exercise too close to bedtime.

Want to reduce your risk of developing diabetes, heart problems, depression and some forms of cancer?  You guessed it: Exercise can help with all of these health risks and many more.

Strengthening bones is a key benefit of exercise.  Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking and weight training, are especially helpful for maintaining healthy bones.

Exercise can boost your energy and self-esteem.  Far from making you tired, regular exercise can improve your stamina, mood and confidence.

Thistle blossom

In every moment of your life, you have a choice: 
to live your truth and light or diminish it. 

Be brilliant.

-Mayor Cory Booker's Facebook entry

Autumn leaves

Maple leaves in the sun

The leaves have been changing colors and are beginning to fall.  It is amazing to see the brilliant colors and the wide range of shades of red and yellow.

Mixture of leaves

Maple leaf and shadow

Strong winds have brought in cooler temperatures.  I've been working on putting a layer of polypropylene on my raised-bed cloches.  It is a bit awkward trying to retrofit one of the garden beds since we've got a giant tomato plant that outgrew the cloche.

What happened to America's middle class?

The following graphic contains information created by ForensicAccounting.net.  It appears the promised "trickle down" effect has instead turned into a "gusher up" reality for those at the top.

I would also highly recommend a listen to a public radio interview with Hendrik Smith, a former New York Times reporter, based on his book, 'Who stole the American Dream?'.  

Reflections from Bassett Creek

Reflections from Bassett Creek

Walking home from church this past Sunday I paused briefly on a bridge which passes over Bassett Creek.  The fall colors were shimmering beautifully, reflecting the trees that lined the banks.  Another wonderful, unexpected, but welcome, benefit of walking to and from church.

Manifesto: The mad farmer liberation front

Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay.

Want more of everything made.

Be afraid to know you neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery any more.

Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something they will call you.

When they want you to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something that won't compute.

Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace the flag.

Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot understand.

Praise ignorance,

for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium.

Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion--put your ear close,

and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world.

Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable.

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap for power,

please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head in her lap.

Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and politicos can predict the motions

of your mind, lose it.

Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go.

Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

-Wendell Berry

BYOB... Bring your own bag

Plastic bag in tree

Are you as tired as I am of seeing plastic bags blowing in the wind, and littered along streets and highways?  Seems the tide may be turning of the quick and convenient bags that are given so freely at stores. Some communities are working to curb the use of paper and plastic bags at stores by imposing a fee of 5 to 10 cents a bag (New York Times, "Paper of Plastic? Some communities say neither").  In California there are already 50 cities that have passed a bag ordinance.

As a nation we seem to have a tendency to want things quick, easy and cheap.  Laws and regulation are necessary at times in order to help us do what is in our collective long-term best interest; factoring in environmental concerns.