The importance of physical fitness

Fitting in a little more exercise, doesn't have to mean becoming an athlete. It can be as simple as adding activity to your normal routine or picking up a new hobby.

• As far as our bodies are concerned, 21st-century life can be surprisingly static, and it takes a determined effort to change habits that have become deeply ingrained.
• In our technologically advanced, automated world, more and more of us spend our days doing sedentary office jobs. Not only that, but thanks to modern appliances, housework is much less arduous than it used to be. So although our days go by at a frantic pace, our lives do not often involve physical challenges; to get around quickly, we rely on cars, and after a stressful, mentally tiring day, many of us choose to relax in front of the television.
• Fewer than half of American adults get the recommended amount of moderate exercise five or more days a week, or intense exercise three times a week, which is required to protect the cardiovascular system. And as we get older, we exercise less. A government survey found that just 27 per cent of women aged 75 or older and 38 per cent of men aged 75 or older met the recommendations.
• Stats for Canadians aren't much better, prompting experts to decry the inactivity plague in Canada too. It is hard to break free from the vicious cycle: You put on weight, you get less exercise, you put on more weight and so on. This pattern is clearly damaging. One study estimated that as many as one in five medically-related deaths of people over 35 can be partly attributed to a lack of exercise.

• The key to changing your own life is to opt for activities you want to do. Go dancing, enroll in a yoga class, kick a soccer ball with your kids, take the stairs instead of the elevator or just walk in the countryside on a glorious summer evening.
• It's up to you to choose which physical activities you incorporate into your daily routine — and every little bit counts.