Fun and Beneficial Exercising - A Happiness Habit

Moderate or Vigorous Physical Activities. 

At minimum, you should strive for 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. That activity can become even more beneficial if you pump it up to vigorous.

Moderate

Walking briskly (3-4 mph)

Cycling for pleasure or transportation (<10 mph)

Swimming, moderate effort

Conditioning exercise, general calisthenics

Racket sports, table tennis

Golf, pulling cart or carrying dubs

Home care, general cleaning

Mowing lawn, power mower

Home repair, painting

Vigorous

Walking briskly uphill or with a load

Cycling, fast or racing (10 mph)

Swimming, fast treading crawl

Conditioning exercise, stair ergonometer, ski machine

Racket sports, singles tennis, racquetball

Golf, practice at driving range

Moving furniture

Mowing lawn, hand mower

Fix-up projects

Everyone Should Exercise
Exercise can be for everyone, regardless of age. Elderly people who regularly exercise say they have more energy, sleep more soundly, enjoy eating more and report fewer aches. Adult exercisers of any age smoke less, drink less, and handle stress better. Beginning and sticking with an exercise program will lower body fat stores and increase muscle strength and flexibility. The added stress supplied by most exercises can help ward off osteoporosis -- a bane many women over the age of 45 may want avoid.

Now, when you are tired the last thing you may want to do is exercise. But doing just that is really what you need. Here are five reasons to exercise away your fatigue:

1.       Exercise will pump oxygen into your blood and brain.  Your circulatory system and organs will benefit.

2.       Exercise can help keep adrenaline hormones in balance. You’ll be able to deal with stress more easily if those hormones is not swinging wildly.

3.       Exercise will help normalize blood sugar so your body has a steady supply of energy for which to draw. Fatigue and listlessness can result from drops in blood sugar.

4.       Exercise can reduce emotional stress. A workout provides a healthy outlet for venting frustrations, and as your physical condition improves, self-confidence for a job well done should follow.

5.       Exercise releases the body’s natural painkillers. These chemicals, called endorphins, can create feelings of well-being and happiness – – a big perk for a fatigue mind.

If you haven’t done much exercising until now, ease into it. Start exercising and reap the benefits.

Let me know how much you are benefiting. Leave your comments below.

Don't Neglect Your Bones

Osteoporosis makes your bones weak and more likely to break. Your bone health may be at risk. By 2020 half of all Americans over 50 will have weak bones unless we make changes to our diet and lifestyle. People who have weak bones are at higher risk for fractures. 

Your Bones Need to Stay Strong
 Americans are living longer, and this means that our bones need to stay strong so we can be active and enjoy life. Thirty years ago, little was known about bone disease. Even many doctors believed that weak and broken bones were just a part of old age and could not be avoided. Today we know that this is not true.

Strong bones begin in childhood. With good habits and medical attention when needed, we can have strong bones throughout our lives.

Weak Bones Can Be Deadly
Broken bones are very painful at any age. Each year 1.5 million older people in this country suffer fractures because their bones have become weak. For older people, weak bones can be deadly. If you are elderly, a broken hip makes you up to four times more likely to die within three months. 

If you survive, the injury often causes your health to spiral downward. One in five people with a hip fracture ends up in a nursing home within a year. Many others become isolated, depressed, or frightened to leave home because they fear they will fall.

Anyone can develop osteoporosis, but it is common in older women. As many as half of all women and a quarter of men older than fifty will break a bone due to osteoporosis or low bone density.

Risk Factors for Weak Bones
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the risk factors include:

1. Getting older
2. Being small and thin
3. Having a family history of osteoporosis
4. Taking certain medicines
5. Being a white or Asian woman

You can improve your bone health by getting enough calcium, vitamin D, and physical activity. If you have osteoporosis or another bone disease, your doctor can detect and treat it. This can help prevent painful fractures. If you break a bone after the age of so, this could be the first sign of weak bones.

Osteoporosis is a silent disease. You might not know you have it until you break a bone.

13 Strategies for Overcoming Test Anxiety

While the best way of overcoming test anxiety is to be fully prepared, knowing some    specific test taking strategies, puts you in an even better position. Learn and use these 13 strategies and don't experience an anxiety disorder. 

1. Reduce or prevent excess anxiety. Consider What If, So What, and Well Then.

2. Study and know the content. Make up your own flashcards and read up on areas that need more of your attention.

3. Find a study partner. It keeps you focused and holds you accountable, if nothing else.

4. Register and schedule your exam. You need a deadline to keep you on track.

5. Consider what helps you with recall, e.g. writing things down, continuous repetition.

6. Know the Code of Ethics pertaining to your chosen profession.

7. Use the supplemental material, e.g. free internet practice tests, handouts on useful websites 

8. Think positively. Use visualization techniques.

9. Trust your intuition. Your first hunch is often right.

10. Read the answers first. Often two are irrelevant or just don’t pertain to the question and can be effectively eliminated.

11. If one of the choices is overly technical, that item is probably not the correct one.

12. When opposites appear among the answers, one of them is usually correct.

13. With two of the choices are almost identical in their wording, one of these choices is often the correct one. 

These are the strategies that I have used to acquire 6 professional licenses. They worked for me and will work for you.


Let me know what you think of these strategies. Leave your comments below.