Excerpt from “seven pillars of health” by Dr. Don Colbert
For many people, exercise is the most difficult part of healthy living. Even people who are paid to be physically fit slack off. Stirring the waters with exercise is essential for you to prevent bodily stagnation. Our bodies are approximately two-thirds water; remember? And we said that when water moves, things grow and thrive.
On the other hand, when water that is not stirred (stagnant water) and nothing can survive and thrive in it except for microscopic bacteria, viruses and other microbes. Exercise is the remedy to prevent death and stir the waters of life in our bodies. All excuses are gone now, isn’t it? It’s time to take your health into your own hands and stir the waters of life with exercise.
ACTION STEP: If you haven’t been exercising on a regular basis, get a walking partner and begin walking. Star by walking for only five minutes three times a week and gradually build up to thirty minutes three times a week. Walk slow enough so you can talk but fast enough so you can’t sing.
Your body was designed to move. It needs water, rest, food and exercise to run smoothly. When you park yourself in a chair and don’t exercise, eventually you may ruin your own engine. Many people these days are sick because they haven’t stirred their water with movement and action.
They have become cesspools of disease due to stagnation. Soon they will come to the point where they can’t exercise because their bodies are so broken down with heart disease, arthritis and other degenerative diseases. “Stirring the waters” with exercise has a powerful effect on your health.
A study by Joslin Diabetes Center researchers showed that obese adults who lost just 7 percent of their weight and did moderate intensity physical exercise for six months improved their major blood vessel function by approximately 80 percent, regardless of whether or not they had type 2 diabetes.
Exercise lowers stress; regular exercise enhances neurotransmitter production and helps to lower cortisol levels, which helps you feel less stressed. One researcher conducted an experiment with rats. He took some rats, shocked them with electrodes, shone bright lights and played loud noises to the around the clock. At the end of one month, all the rats were dead from the stress. He then took another group of rats and made them exercise on a treadmill. After they were well exercised, he subjected them to a moth of the same shocks, noises and lights. These rats didn’t die – they ran around well and healthy.
If life is stressing you out, it’s time to add exercise to your day. Exercise literally burns off those stress chemicals.