October 2006
							Too Tired to Exercise? Why that Excuse Isn’t Logical!
							It was a long day at work. The drive home took longer than you wanted it to because everyone else just happened to be driving home at the same time as you! You still need to do the groceries and by the time you finally get to rest you are exhausted! This is usually where the slightest thought of exerting yourself during exercise gets dismissed because you say you just don’t have the energy. Believe it or not, the best way to get more energy is to use more energy by exercising! Here’s why.
							Our bodies make energy by using oxygen to turn the calories we eat into fuel our bodies can use. The better we are at using oxygen, the more fuel our bodies can make. The more fuel we have available and ready to use, the more energy we have to put into action. Thus, you can have all the calories in the world available to you, but you will only be able to use them as fast as you can metabolize them. If you want a more efficient energy system, than you must train it.
							Cardiovascular exercise will improve your body’s ability to extract oxygen from your circulatory system and deliver it more efficiently to the tissues that require it. It will also make your heart stronger and more efficient. Strength training is important too. Not only will your muscles become more efficient at using energy, but they will also be stronger and better able to cope with daily demands. In summary, if you are exercising regularly, than your body will be more efficient and offer more energy to you. Your increased strength will mean that more stimuli are needed to present a stressor to your body. Suddenly, that long day at work doesn’t seem so hard on your feet. Sitting in the car in traffic doesn’t aggravate your back muscles and the groceries just don’t seem so heavy anymore. With your day feeling so much easier, no wonder you still have plenty of energy left to work out at the end of the day!
							Sneak in a 15-minute stretch at your desk four days a week.
							Happy Halloween!
							Don’t be afraid to set a good influence for the young trick-or-treaters this year. Be that neighbor who hands out fruit cups instead of chocolate-peanut butter cups! If you should happen to find yourself sampling the mini-sized chocolate snacks that inundate store shelves this month, try to remember, they may look small but they still make a difference in your diet. Eat more than one, and you can scratch the word “mini” from the wrapper.