“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy

Lack of knowledge is not the right answer. Lack of immediate benefits might be.  There is enough awareness about the importance of exercise and eating the right diet. Blogs, TV shows, web shows, newspapers all are full of fitness-related stuff. Now the Govt of India has also woken up and initiated Fit India Movement. Baba Ramdev has been propagating Yoga and Ayurveda for many years.

Yet junk food outlets are crowded, Gyms are struggling to break even, street and gardens are not flourishing with walkers and joggers. The need and desire to remain fit is in slumber as most of us are when we are supposed to be on the ground or Gym.

• We Do Not See Immediate Benefits

There are no immediate benefits to doing exercise. You are in a working condition so you don’t realise to remain in the working condition your body needs exercise.

As you age things deteriorate but we assume the future will be an extrapolation of the past and we will remain fit even as we age if we are fit at a younger age.

This is a big fallacy. As we age our body’s working deteriorate. Muscles and organs become less powerful. Digestive system weakens, activity levels reduce, mental stress is already taking its toll on our body.

Regular exercise and the right diet are the only things that can keep us fit forever. This we realise when the body responds and systems are damaged.

“Fitness helps me think better, feel better, and move better.” Jason Winston George

These are the immediate benefits.

• We Haven’t Realised The Necessity Of Fitness

If you look aged people around us, most are suffering from one or the other diseases. We consider this either as a way of aging or we remain in this will not happen to me mode.

We haven’t realised that the fitness we are experiencing at a younger age will not last forever and we need to something about it now and on a consistent basis.

Your health insurance is not a substitute for your daily fitness regime. Health insurance will only take care of the money part of the treatment. You will continue to remain exposed to the pain, hassle, and physical debility of ill health.

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“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Jim Rohn

• Busy Lifestyle

Mostly the diseases and deformities are acquired by lifestyle adapted at a young age. Your old age physical status is the reflection of the way you have treated your body while you were busy earning money and splurging life.

Your busy lifestyle with no time to exercise is the sure way to suffer in pain in the old age.

Companies must offer 45 minutes fitness break like a lunch break. It should be mandatory across organizations.

Handpicked related post: If You Don’t Exercise Today, You Are Staring At A Painful Future

“Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.”  Denis Waitley

• Other Priorities

We have other priorities in life. For women family, children, domestic work comes first. For working women time is for the self is scarce. In either case, fitness comes last.

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“Those who think they have not timed for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” Edward Stanley

We need to change our priorities in life. We are so obsessed with family priorities, earning money and procrastination, that we even don’t mind suffering from illness and disease. Your visit to old age homes and hospitals will make you realise why people suffer and how probably you can avoid that fate.

Just your negligence about your health is enough to make your life and life of your near and dear ones miserable.

Handpicked related post: Healthy aging or painful aging, choice is yours

We all know the idiom: Old habits die hard.

But the effect of this is if the habits are harmful, the suffering for the Habitual is certain.

We don’t need more information about fitness and diet, we need motivation and will power to change lethargic, procrastinating, casual, approach to our fitness.

To motivate you further see the following video from the well-known Indian athlete player Milkha Singh, age nearing 90.  (In Hindi)

You may also like to read: 11 reasons elderly people MUST exercise regularly