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John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, would have arguably one of the most stressful and demanding jobs in the country. Yet he still finds time for his daily fitness walk. He regards exercise and fitness as an important part of his daily timetable and sticks to this morning schedule no matter where he is. This message from the top highlights the critical importance of exercise in combating stress, anxiety and depression.

We all know how important exercise is for weight loss, cardiovascular health, combating diabetes and maintaining a high level of fitness. Our bodies are designed to be active and any program that enhances this is beneficial to our health. Activities that boost our fitness can range from gardening and walking to sports including tennis and swimming up to the extreme sports, including high altitude mountain climbing.

According to exercise physiologist Chris Tzar, exercise is now considered a primary treatment for mild and moderate depression. Jeff Kennett, a former Premier of Victoria, is now chairman of Beyond Blue, an Australian depression initiative. He also stresses the importance of exercise and fitness in beating depression. “Whether you walk, swim, play golf or go hang gliding, I don’t care, but physical fitness is terribly important to our wellbeing,” he says.

WHY IS EXERCISE SO IMPORTANT?

There are a number of theories about the mechanisms behind exercise therapy to treat depression. Some suggest exercise increases the release of endorphins and other “feel good” hormones that have a similar uplifting effect to prescription antidepressants. Others believe that exercise develops greater self confidence and enables people to develop new relationships.

Exercise can also create a diversion, taking the individual’s mind off his/her problem. Some years ago, I suffered from work related stress and depression.
Fortunately I was [and still am] a keen tennis player. The simple action of stepping onto the court, the hard, competitive physical activity and the camaraderie of other players, did wonders for my sense of wellbeing.

AEROBIC EXERCISES.

Several types of aerobic exercise have been found to reduce the symptoms of depression including running, cycling, jogging, swimming or going for a 20 minute walk. These types of activities may not be appropriate for some older adults. Gardening or a short walk around the block may be more suitable for those in this age group. In older people, exercise has been found to be just as beneficial as antidepressant medication or social contact according to Beyond Blue.

STRENGTH TRAINING.

Strength training and weights can also reduce some symptoms of depression.
According to Edith Cowan University exercise science professor Robert Newton, the most convincing research to date showed high intensity weight lifting resistance training was far superior in curbing anxiety and depression than either low intensity training or just remaining on the couch.

In an Australian study published in the Journal of Gerontology in 2005, high intensity strength training was shown to reduce depression as effectively as drug therapy. There is growing evidence that strength training should be offered as a primary treatment for depression in older adults. It provides additional benefits including strengthening bones [better osteoporosis management], preventing falls and managing arthritis.

Finally, before commencing any exercise program, it is important that you discuss your plans with your doctor. You may like to consider a tailored exercise program with an exercise physiologist.

Want to read more on exercise for depression,anxiety and stress? Check out Graeme Lanham’s latest book, “Your Life Fitness” at:
http://www.yourlifefitness.com As an extra bonus receive FREE health reports and a FREE subscription to his subscribers only newsletter.

Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. It seems there are not enough hours in the day most of the time. There is so much to do it is hard to squeeze everything in much less fit an exercise routine into your daily schedule. Regular exercise provides many benefits to your lifestyle so if possible you should try to make this a priority in your daily life. Exercise to a healthy lifestyle, your improving health will thank you for the sacrifice.

This article will provide some common sense tips to help you squeeze some physical fitness into your daily schedule.

Bring your lunch to work. Not only will this save you a lot of money in a years time it will allow you the time to take a walk on your lunch hour. The time you save from not driving out to buy your lunch could be well spent walking. Some folks like to eat lunch with their coworkers, so encourage them to start walking with you. You can enjoy good companionship while you improve your fitness.

Exercise instead of raiding the refrigerator. When you watch TV why not get some exercise in. It is easy to walk in place or do a few sit-ups during the commercials. You don’t have to spend your leisure time on the couch. You could always tune into one of the fitness channels and get your full work out in the comfort of your living room.

Spend your break time at work wisely. Tomorrow when you go on break at work try walking around your office or climbing a few flights of stairs. Instead of drinking that extra cup of coffee get your energy from the exercise you just finished.

Make exercise a shared event. Try getting together with some of your friends and take a walk. This could become a regular social gathering. Instead of going out to eat you could meet at the gym and work out together.

Work around the house. Cutting the grass or painting the kitchen can count as a way to get your exercise routine in. Even cleaning the house will get you moving and stretch those muscles. Yard work is especially helpful in getting that hear rate up.

The best exercise plan is one that you will do today and then tomorrow. It will not do you any good to start exercising and not follow through. Pick a plan you can live with and exercise to a healthy lifestyle.

For more information on a common sense healthy weight loss plan try visiting http://www.lose-10-pounds.com where you will find tips, advice and resources about topics such as healthy weight loss tips

So what should I considering when I am looking for what is the best mp3 player to use while exercising? In this article we will look at some of the different types of mp3 players that are suitable for using when exercising.

However, one of the most important features that you should look for in a good mp3 player to use when doing any form of exercise is a small one. Even those with a memory of about 2gb can easily contain over 400 songs on them without you having to carry any extra weight around.

Below we provide details on a number of the different mp3 players we consider are the best to be used when carrying out any form of exercise.

1. Rio Forge Sport
This is small enough that it will fit into the palm of your hand and it also includes an FM radio that allows you to record songs from the radio and listen to them later on. It also comes with a stopwatch, which can be used even when you are listening to your music. Another advantage of this particular mp3 player is that the menu on it is easy to navigate and the desktop software that comes with it is simple and easy to use as well.

2. Apple iPod Mini
Apple is known for being the leaders in the mp3 player market and the mini iPod is no exception to the family. This is particularly good for people who exercise as it only weighs 3.6 ounces and is smaller than a cell phone. But the biggest benefit of all to be had from this particular mp3 player is it has 4gb memory and so can store more than 1,000 songs on it as well as offering the user 25 minutes of skip protection.

3. Apple iPod Shuffle
There is another great mp3 player that is part of the Apple iPod family. This player may be better than the iPod mini as it is even smaller (about the size of a pack of gum) and it has some great features also. What this particular iPod mp3 player does is allows the user to shuffle all the music in their library in to any order they want so they will never know which tune is going to play next. But apart from this the Shuffle comes with all the other features to be found on the other mp3 players in the iPod family.

4. Creative MuVo
This is the final mp3 player that we are looking at and it weighs a staggering 1.1-ounce (without the battery). So it is the smallest of them all. Also it comes in a variety of memory choices starting at 128mb and going up to 1gb as well as having skip free technology.

So really what is the best mp3 player to use while exercising? I suppose at the end of the day it is all boils down to a person’s own personal preference as to how much your player weighs and how much music will it hold.

For more information on how to find the MP3 player that is right for you try visiting http://www.streamingaudio101.com where you will find tips, advice and resources about topics such as the the top ten ipod stereo accessories.

There is no question that running shoes today are far superior to anything we used back in the early 1970s. In those days companies weren

For years I believed the only way to improve as a distance runner was to run faster, maybe longer, or some combination of both. I