Regular exercise can improve your overall health by 30%. Exercise will boost your self esteem, mood, energy, quality of sleep, reduce your risk of heart disease, stress, depression and Alzheimer’s.

Here are a few proven medical benefits of exercise:

• Lower risk of breast cancer by up to 20%
• Lower risk of early death by up to 30%
• Lower risk of depression by up to 30%
• Lower risk of falling among older adults by up to 30%
• Lower risk of dementia by up to 30%
• Lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke by up to 35%
• Lower risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 50%
• Lower risk of colon cancer by up to 50%
• Lower risk of hip fracture by up to 68%
• Lower risk of osteoporosis by up to 83%

Each age group has their own set of times and types of exercise that needs to be done. As a child you need to do certain exercises to build and strengthen your body before becoming an adult. When you have reached adulthood these times and exercises change.

5-18 year olds should get about 1 hour of exercise each day. Three of those days per week a child has to do muscle strengthening and bone strengthening exercises.

Every day:

• Playing on the playground
• Taking the dog for a walk
• Ride a bike
• Sports (football, gymnastics, aerobics, dancing and karate)
• Walking to school or after school activities

Muscle strengthening:

• Tree climbing
• Sports (gymnastics, tennis, basketball and football)
• Sit-ups
• Swinging-on playground bars

Bone strengthening (child to lift their entire body e.g jumping) :

• Walking
• Running
• Sports (football, gymnastics, aerobics, dancing and karate)
• Hopscotch
• Swimming
• Skipping rope
• Dancing

19 – 80 year olds should get about 2 and a half hours of exercise each week. It is important to not only do light exercise but also to push yourself. Getting a balance between exercises is very important. Choose at least one exercise in each category and do them weekly.

Some light exercise:

• Riding a bike
• Playing doubles tennis
• Mowing the lawn
• Hiking
• Basketball
• Walking at a quick pace
• Water aerobics

Something a bit more challenging:

• Running
• Jogging
• Skipping rope
• Aerobics
• Gymnastics
• Swimming at a quick pace
• Martial arts

Strengthen those muscles:

• Doing resistance training
• Digging and shoveling in the garden
• Yoga
• Weight lifting

Always remember these are guidelines of what can be done not what should be done. We are all different and should find the exercise that works best for you. Never do anything if you’re not sure how to do it, especially when it comes to weight lifting, yoga and aerobics. If these exercises are done wrongly you could end up hurting your back, muscles or joints. It is always better to attend a few classes before exercising on your own.

The most difficult part of it all is getting into doing regular exercise. We have all felt the fury of unfit muscles after a training session. This is usually where we give up. Do not dive head first into exercise. Start by doing light exercise and end it all off with some yoga. But at one point or another you will have sore muscles, please do not give up! Fight through it!

Ozone Therapy has proven to alleviate sore muscles after heavy exercise. Ozone Therapy breaks up lactic acid, increases cellular respiration in muscles and speeds up recovery of damaged tissue. Ozone Therapy will also reduce your risk of developing arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, stoke, lower cholesterol, diabetes, asthma and Alzheimer’s.

What type of exercise suits you best?