I know exercise keeps you healthy and has all its benefits, but we are rarely able to follow a routine that involves it.

The million-dollar issue - precommitment

You were motivated, so you bought yourself a gym membership and continued for the first few weeks. Then one day you did not want to do it, so you pampered yourself with a lazy day, which is fine. But another day comes when you do not feel like it again, and so on, it becomes easier and easier to leave exercise until your short-lived dedication has worn off. Now you find yourself back to day 1. ( one minute silence here )

When people buy gym memberships, they are also committing themselves that they will be indulging in this routine, hence a membership will solidify that intention. You know, they have put their money where their mouth is.

But was not having a membership the issue they were not active before? No, that’s why buying one does not help in building a routine and they end up paying more than they utilized. Gyms know this well. It is so common that the refund window is set to 24 hours or so. Since when anything involves health, we do not compromise, so we go to the best big-name gym around.

Now, you know, people spend waste millions of dollars on gym memberships, which they use for only a fraction of the time.

Problems maintaining a routine? - try Moderation

The scenario where you can’t keep up with a routine of anything is when you go nuts with it during the early days. Doing all you can because you are motivated for it, it works superbly for a few days.

Instead, do regular exercise as part of your personal hygiene, like taking a bath. Don’t change your goal, change your inspiration.

I will clear many things here as I have been trying to make sense of all the information we get on the internet, always being suspicious of what has been proven scientifically and what is not.

So stay tuned for my longevity series.

Why Exercise

There are plenty of stressors that will help us live longer without damaging the cell, including certain types of exercise, intermittent fasting, low-protein diets, and exposure to hot and cold temperatures. That’s called hormesis.

Hormesis is generally good for organisms, especially when it can be induced without causing any lasting damage. When hormesis happens, all is well. And, in fact, all is better than well because the little bit of stress that occurs prompts the body to hunker down to conserve to survive a little longer. That’s the start of longevity.

One recent study found that those who ran four to five miles a week—for most people, that’s an amount of exercise that can be done in less than 15 minutes per day—reduce their chance of death from a heart attack by 40% and all-cause mortality by 45%. That’s a massive effect.

As given in “Lifespan: Why we age and why we don’t have to” book by David Sinclair

Individuals who exercise more—the equivalent of at least a half hour of jogging five days a week—tend to be nearly a decade younger than those who live a more sedentary life.

Intensity

There is a difference between a leisurely walk and a brisk run, however. Intensity does matter. Like High-intensity interval training. You’ll know you are doing vigorous activity when it feels challenging.

Therefore: if you love yourself, pamper your body with some physical stressors and let it take care of the rest.