By Lorne Holden

Wish you had more time to exercise? Wish you had any time to exercise?

Take heart. It is possible, even in just ten minutes a day, to get enough exercise to significantly impact your health and well being.

Recent research has taught us that frequent exercise, even if done for short periods of time, is far more beneficial that the occasional huge blast of exertion. Ten minutes a day of walking, running or yoga can significantly change how you feel in your body and thus how you feel in your world. Incredibly, ten minutes a day adds up to seventy minutes a week, four hours and twenty minutes a month and sixty hours a year! That’s a lot of exercise to get or to miss.

Last year, in the Journal of the American Medical Association,Dr. Timothy S. Church, of the Louisiana State University System, published research confirming that ten minutes a day of moderate activity significantly improved the fitness levels and heart health of the participants in his study. 1

Additionally, the association between small amounts of physical activity and longer life also holds true. Steven Moore, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute states that “a very low level of activity, equivalent to 10 minutes per day of walking, was associated with a gain of almost two years of life expectancy.” 2

Amazing, right?

A simple, wonderful way to grab ten minutes of exercise is to take a short walk. Keep it simple: walk five minutes out, and five minutes back. A brief walk in the fresh air can do wonders for how you feel in both your body and mind. And remember – a ten minute walk every day adds up to over an hour of walking a week. That’s a a great boost to your system.

If you can’t leave your office or home for a walk, there are many Ten Minute fitness programs that can be done indoors, even in small spaces. A quick, yes, ten minute search on the internet will offer up a variety of choices. There are even Apps you can get for your phone.

What matters is frequency and consistency.

“You mean now?” Yogi Berra once famously answered, when someone asked him the time.

Yes, now.

Get Ready. Get Moving. Ten Minutes a Day.

“Those who think they have no time for exercise, will eventually have to make time for illness.”
Edward Stanley

References

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10192772

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/11/07/exercise-daily_n_2089038.html

– Lorne Holden is an award winning artist and author based in New England. Her new book about the benefits of daily endeavors can be found at www.makeithappenintenminutesaday.com. Her favorite ten minute daily exercise is yoga.