Exercise with intensity, and flying monkeys.

     Here is an interesting blog from Dr. Andrew Weil.  I don't have heart disease, at least to my knowledge, but maybe this explains why years of walking my dog didn't make me more fit or help me to lose weight.... we need some degree of intensity in our exercise.

EXERCISE INTENSITY CUTS HEART DISEASE RISK

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012 AT 6:44AM | POST A COMMENT | SHARE ARTICLE

You can walk for an hour a day, but that won’t necessarily affect your risk of heart disease or stroke. But walking fast or jogging is a different story, according to results of a newly published Danish study. Researchers at Bispebjerg University Hospital, in Copenhagen, followed more than 10,000 Danish adults, between the ages of 21 and 98, for 10 years looking at the amount of physical activity they performed as well as its duration and intensity. When they joined the study, one in five of the women and about one in four of the men hadmetabolic syndrome, a combination of conditions that when taken together dramatically increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This disorder was most common among study participants who had a sedentary lifestyle. After 10 years, the researchers analyzed the data they collected on the study participants and found that walking fast cut the risk of heart disease and stroke in half; jogging cut it by 40 percent. Unfortunately, taking hour-long casual walks had no apparent effect at all. The study was published October 8, 2012 in the online journal BMJ Open.
  **********************************************************
My Grandkids and nephews jumping on hay bales at my parents farm, Thanksgiving 2012.  Photos by Ben Johnson.