Stay Healthy in 2015

Well, Reader-friends. You are quite an active bunch. Last week I asked for your input about different ways you exercise to keep the tickers going strong and the muscles toned. (Maybe not toned but at least working at optimum level.)


Here is a list of activities I compiled from your responses:

• Tai Chi Chih - walking the dog
• (I'm assuming that's an advanced yoga position, not a cocker spaniel.)
• Swimming
• Running
• Biking
• P90X
• (The four activities above are from someone training for summer marathons. Did you get that? Marathons, plural. Torturous. I have no idea what P90X is but I gather the gym rats will know.)
• Hiking, especially the beautiful mountain trails in Arizona
• Cycling
• Biking
• (There's a huge difference between cycling and biking. I bike through the neighborhood, my son cycles on 40-mile rides, and my 60-year old neighbor cycles ten miles a day.)
• Swimming laps
• Working out at the local gym, with and without trainers
• Walking
• Measuring daily steps with a pedometer
• Ten-thousand seems to be the standard. I have a friend who is known to walk around her house just before bedtime in order to meet her goal of 10,000.

There you have it. I hope this list encourages you to take charge of your activity for 2015. God created our bodies with fantastic functioning and the more we keep things moving, the better we feel. Of course there are limitations when health issues arise, but for the most part, exercise in moderation is a good thing.

Advice from Proverbs for  you walkers and hikers:

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil." (Proverbs 4:25-27)

The Apostle Paul writes this advice to his young friend, Timothy:

"...if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. (2 Timothy 2: 5)

That's for those of you who enter marathons. I know, I know. Paul was advising Timothy about staying strong in the faith, but the metaphor is interesting.

Bottom line, let's do everything we can to take care of our physical bodies, no matter what age or state they're in.

Happy and healthy 2015 to you all.