It’s time we took a really honest look at exercise and accept the reality that there really is not a better method to prevent heart disease, cancer and a long list of other ailments. Let’s also consider quality of life issues and realize that the best guarantee of living a long, productive and independent life is being physically active. Research shows that sitting shortens our lifespan and physical activity keeps us healthy.
Wow – that exercise thing seems to offer a lot of benefits!
As we continue to search for the keys to a long, happy and prosperous life, let’s not forget work. Our long hours on the job have been shown to lead to stress related disease and general unhappiness. Then by all means – we should strive for longer hours sitting at a desk, hunched over a keyboard and meeting our next deadline with all the angst we can muster. Therefore, I highly recommend putting in extra work and avoiding any semblance of physical activity while doing so. Any relief from stress could possibly interfere with our miserable existence and we might miss out on the opportunity to work so hard that we won’t have any energy left at the end of the day.
Not having energy keeps us feeling normal. It allows us the perfect excuse to not be able to do anything after we get home, but sit in front of the television and decompress from our strenuous workday. Optimal television viewing occurs when we are able to sit completely still for several hours until it’s time to go to bed. Any additional energy to be gained from taking a walk after dinner, couldn’t possibly be worth interfering with our optimal viewing time, right?
Once in bed, it is best not to miss the struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep. This allows you the opportunity to let worrisome thoughts run wild and keep you awake so you can solve the world’s problems in that restless state of mind. With exercise, the chances are you will sleep more soundly and get the benefits of rest. You could miss out on that groggy, grumpy feeling that you have every morning after staying up half the night solving the world’s problems. And since the world might stop spinning if you weren’t awake to stop it – you should definitely avoid exercise.
I can’t imagine why anyone would be interested in exercise. It helps the body function at its best and that would just feel too weird. Imagine having energy and enthusiasm for life, isn’t that absolutely unheard of? Why would anyone want to miss out on extra time at work? And who could possibly need a good night’s rest?
Seems to me, exercise is a total waste of time as long as we choose to ignore our bodies. To listen to what the body needs for us to take care of it means we might have to acknowledge the amazing creation of flesh and blood that allows us a place to live and breathe and be.
Besides, if we ignore our bodies long enough, our health will suffer. When we stop listening to and taking care of our bodies, as we so often do when we work long hours, sit instead of move and miss out on sleep, we feel lousy. Is this really what we want?
Exercise or not to exercise – that is the question.
