7 Things to Motivate You to Get Off the Couch

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W

e gentlemen of a certain age can probably think up thousands of excuses to get out of exercising. Some of my favorite examples are as follows:

“I’m swamped with work.”

 

“I try to eat healthy foods; isn’t that enough?”

 

“I’m happily married, and I don’t need to impress my spouse by trying to look like Mr. Universe.”

 

“As long as I have enough energy to get around the golf course, I’ll be happy.”

All of those points may be true. However, it’s a mistake to view exercise as merely an extra chore, something in your schedule that interferes with your leisure. Instead, exercise is a rejuvenating practice that can benefit just about every aspect of your life. And once you’re accustomed to working out at least a few times each week, you’ll probably feel uneasy and restless whenever you miss a fitness session.

With that in mind, below are seven specific reasons to spend less time loafing in the living room and more time feeling the burn.

1. Keep Your Balance
A person’s sense of balance tends to worsen as he or she grows older. Balance issues, which are often caused by inner ear problems, manifest themselves in various ways. You might suddenly feel dizzy for no apparent reason. You could stagger and stumble when you’re ascending or descending stairs. You might tumble forward when you attempt to tie your shoes. Such incidents are often frightening, and worse still, they can lead to serious injuries. However, exercises in which you stand on one leg, repeatedly bend over, or move rapidly will improve your body’s ability to steady itself.

2. Flex Those Arteries
Arteries often begin to stiffen when a person reaches middle age. Cholesterol and smoking can also harden those blood vessels. And your risk of cardiovascular disease increases with stiff arteries. However, by exercising on a routine basis, you can keep your arteries much suppler.

3. Strong Bones
Bones often thin over time, and thin bones are more susceptible to fractures. However, exercise can strengthen our skeletons. Now, we don’t always think of bones as being alive — we sometimes think of them as objects — but they’re comprised of living tissue just as our muscles are. Therefore, bones respond to physical activity, and regular workouts increase bone mass. The best exercises for bones are those requiring you to fight gravity: Climbing stairs and hiking uphill are two examples.

4. Feel More Joyful
Scientific evidence has repeatedly linked exercise and psychological health. Working out can help ward off depression, reduce rates of stress, increase levels of self-esteem and confidence, and make people more cheerful in general. And when a guy who starts exercising becomes a happier individual, it can come as a relief to everyone around him: his family, his coworkers, and especially his poker buddies.

Why does exercise boost mental health in such ways? When the body works out, it releases endorphins, chemicals that tell the brain’s receptors to decrease sensations of negativity and pain. Thus, exercising can feel similar to receiving a shot of morphine.

5. Say Farewell to Stomach Fat
As years pass, it gets more difficult to keep abdominal fat in check. You might even be resigned to your belly flab by now. But by taking up physical activities, you can take a powerful stand against that pooch. Moreover, as your girth decreases, your body produces less fatty acid. Consequently, your harmful cholesterol level goes down, and your chances of acquiring diabetes and a host of other serious ailments lessen. It’s quite a favorable chain reaction. Plus, you won’t have to suck in your gut in wedding photos.

6. Less Joint Pain
Joints frequently weaken over time, and the lingering effects of joint injuries can torment a person. Additionally, arthritis — a chronic inflammation of the joints — and other joint-related maladies can result in considerable discomfort over the long haul.

Some people who suffer from joint pain try to avoid exercise altogether, believing that it could intensify their aching. In most cases, however, the opposite is actually true. When you exercise, you build up the muscles that surround the joints, and that functions to stabilize them. A more stable joint has a greater range of motion. On top of that, exercise maximizes the body’s tolerance for pain, which means that it takes more intense pain for you to start feeling uncomfortable.

Note that riding bikes and swimming are two of the most effective exercises for people suffering from joint pain. That’s because these activities don’t strain the joints.

7. Fight Dementia
In 2006, the Group Health Research Institute (GHRI), an institution headquartered in Seattle, released the results of a study on exercise and dementia. The GHRI said that increasing your physical activity could lower your risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia by up to 40 percent. In fact, this study concluded that three 15-minute workout sessions each week — a modest amount of exercise for sure — could have a positive and long-term impact on the brain. That’s certainly something for us to consider the next time we’re lying on the couch with a bag of nachos in our hands.