Last week I visited my doctor for a physical, which included a check of my cholesterol levels. When I got the results back, my doc gave me an ultimatum:
Either start exercising, or go on cholesterol meds.
I’m only 35 years old, and while I don’t have insane crazy cholesterol levels, apparently my good cholesterol is too low. Combine that with my family’s history of heart disease, and I’m blazing fast down heart disease highway.
Yet strange as this sounds, like a lot of other people, the threat of future health problems just isn’t enough motivation for today. Exercise takes time and work, and heart disease is tomorrow’s problem, right?
If I’m actually going to start exercising on a daily basis, then I’m going to need some additional motivation, which I can find easily enough. All I need to do is look into my daughter’s beautiful hazel eyes, and I quickly realize there are many reasons to start exercising and take better care of myself.
Here’s the top five reasons I came up with for why I should start exercising more often:
- Exercising will give me more energy to play with Olivia.
Too often I feel tired, and won’t read another book to Olivia, or go and eat the pretend super she cooked for me using her play kitchen. Instead I’ll ask her to play by herself for a little while. If I exercised each day, it would increase my energy levels and stamina, so I wouldn’t have to tell her no simply because I have low energy and feel tired. - Exercising will give me more patience.
Because I’m not exercising, a lot of the time I don’t feel well. I get headaches. I’m worn out from work. I’m down from the stresses of life. So there are times when Olivia’s just being a 2-year-old, and I overreact from a lack of patience. If I would exercise, I’d start feeling better and would work off a lot of stress, leaving me with more patience to deal with Olivia. - Exercising will give me a better chance of meeting my grandchildren.
My doctor gave me an ultimatum for a reason. If I don’t change my lifestyle, there’s a great chance I’ll have a blocked artery someday. Which could mean having a heart attack, needing expensive and dangerous heart bypass surgery, or even dying. If I do nothing, there’s a great chance I might not meet my grandchildren. I could even leave Olivia fatherless before she’s even graduated from high school, and I don’t want any of that to happen. - Exercising will improve my marriage.
Shan and I aren’t in any danger of divorce, but like all couples, we have our ups and downs. Having more energy, stamina, and patience from exercising would benefit my marriage just as much as it would benefit my relationship with Olivia. And having a better marriage would benefit Olivia’s mental and emotional health. So by exercising, I can strengthen all my family relationships. - I’ll set a proper example for Olivia.
All the reasons why it’s important for me to exercise, are the same reasons it’ll be important for Olivia to exercise when she grows up. After all, she’s inherited the same family genes that lead to a higher rate of heart disease. If she grows up watching dad exercise, then I can hopefully teach her the importance of exercising, and instill that value in her so she can be a healthier adult someday.
So there you have my top five reasons why I should start exercising. And as a public promise to myself, to Shan, and to Olivia… I promise that I will start exercising!
Do you exercise? What other things do you do to improve yourself and your health because you have kids? Please share your comments below!
Tags: Cholesterol, Exercise, Health, Marriage, Patience, Tired
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