Eight great reasons to exercise.

Inspite of the fact that Oprah Winfrey refers to herself as "Miss Low-Fat" because she has drastically reduced the amount of fat in her diet, her weight did not drop as she had hoped. In order to shed pounds and maintain a healthier lifestyle, Winfrey adopted an exercise program. "To lose weight, I need to run five miles at an eight-minute pace," she says. In addition to her daily run, Winfrey lifts weights three days a week.

Although many find the initial idea of regular exercise a major hurdle to overcome, the effort is worthwhile. Study after study reveals that exercise has tremendous benefits. A daily dose of exercise is good not only for the body, but also is a boost for the mind and spirit. Here are eight great reasons to begin and maintain an exercise program.

1. The body is meant to glorify God. Perhaps the strongest rationale for Christians to exercise is the command of Scripture.In 1 Corinthians 6 19, 20, NIV,(*) the apostle Paul declares "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." The backdrop for Paul's exhortation was the prevailing Greek view, which had a negative body image. For example the Greek philosopher Epictetus taught:"The body is a tomb. I am a poor soul shackled to a corpse." That teaching produced one of two attitudes: either people became rigidly ascetic, punishing and humiliating the body, or they became completely hedonistic denying themselves no bodily pleasure. Today those same attitudes appear in people who struggle with either anorexia or obesity.

2. Building biceps boosts brainpower. The latest research indicates that exercise can keep the brain sharp into old age and might help prevent Alzheimer's disease, along with other mental disorders that accompany aging. Dr. Carl Cotman, of the University of California at Irvine, is one of the first to provide a link between physical activity and mental ability. Writing in the journal Nature, Dr. Cotman says that compounds responsible for the brain's health can be controlled by exercise. Cotman did his research on rodents, because the effects of exercise are nearly identical in humans and rats, he says. In his study monitoring "couch" rats and exercising rats that ran on a treadmill, the rats that exercised had much higher levels of BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), the most widely distributed growth factor in the brain and one believed to decline with the onset of Alzheimer's.

3. Exercise is twenty-first-century medicine. Exercise leads to radiant health without shots or pills, and the side effects are all positive. Consider the view of family physician Edward A. Taub, M.D., medical director of the Wellness Medicine Institute in Mount Carmel, Illinois. In more than 30 years as a family doctor he noticed that 20 percent of his patients accounted for 80 percent of office visits. In surveying those 20 percent, he was surprised to find they were not people with more serious illness such as diabetes, cancer, or arthritis.

"Exercise helps provide the energy necessary for personal wellness," Taub declares. "Even moderate levels of exertion bolster the immune system. In fact, new studies show that a small increase in physical activity--climbing five flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator, for example--can help lower your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, breast cancer and colon cancer." Taub also notes that exercise fights "destructive thought patterns" associated with depression, anxiety, stress, worry, panic, and anger. Such negative patterns contribute significantly to a person's physiological illness.

4. Age is no barrier. You're never too old and it's never too late to begin an exercise program. In fact, the value of maintaining fitness in later life is well substantiated. A recent study published in The Gerontologist reported that exercise provides cardiovascular, respiratory, neuromuscular, and metabolic benefits for older adults. And The New England Journal of Medicine reported an average 113 percent strength increase among elderly people engaged in resistance training.

If those studies aren't convincing, then consider a landmark study at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, where a group of 90-yearold men and women increased their strength by an average of 174 percent after eight weeks of thrice-weekly sessions on weight machines. Remember those who have not been exercising should consult with a physician before starting any vigorous exercise regimen.

5. If you're overweight, exercise can extend your life span. Overweight people who exercise are less likely to die prematurely than their sedentary peers, notes Steven N. Blair, director of epidemiology and clinical applications at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas. Blair says if you're overweight, it pays to exercise, even if you don't lose weight.

6. You can get highly creative. If you don't live near a gym, and jogging around a track strikes you as boring, you can follow your creative urges by developing your own unique fitness program. Consider this 34-year-old woman's approach "Living in the middle of a 600-acre ranch with two small children and no access to a gym or aerobics class has left me with no choice but to be inventive with my workouts. So I take to the country roads and pastures with my two best friends--Siesta, a Labrador retriever, and Buddy Buck, a male white-tailed deer I nursed back to health from near death. Hiking and jogging with them is exhilarating. Their grace and beauty gives me such inner peace I hardly know I'm exercising. Together we climb tank dams, jump over fallen trees, step across cattle guards, and straddle ravines. You can imagine the strange looks they give me when I use a bale of hay in the middle of a pasture to do a mini bench workout. Nature really does have so much to offer."

7. Fitness is in; the couch potato is out. You will be part of a growing trend. An increasing number of people in all age groups are getting fit. A new report from American Sports Data, Inc., a fitness trends tracker in Westchester, New York, reveals the following

* Approximately 19 million Americans have a health club membership, the highest in many years and a 32 percent increase from 1987.

* The couch potato population is decreasing with an overall 4 percent increase in exercise participation yearly.

* Almost all outdoor fitness activities are growing in popularity.

* About 14.1 million Americans walk for fitness at least 100 times a year.

* In-line skating is more popular than ever.

* More Americans are getting a kick out of step aerobics, up 25 percent in popularity.

8. It's heart smart. By now everyone knows exercise slashes the risk of developing heart disease. However, what is less well known is that recently the American Heart Association (AMA) upgraded physical inactivity from a `contributing factor' for heart disease and stroke to a `risk factor,' along with high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and high blood cholesterol. Data from several major studies had been reviewed by AHA experts, and the evidence was there to elevate the risk, said Dr. Edward Cooper, AHA president and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Twenty to 30 percent of the U.S. population--50 million to 75 million people--are so sedentary that they have a three to four times greater risk for developing heart disease than do their more active counterparts.

According to AHA research, exercise can help control cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. As a result, the new AHA position statement strongly recommends 120 to 160 minutes per week of activities such as brisk walking, hiking, jogging, swimming, or tennis. Dr. Cooper also stresses that more people need to begin exercising now, because America's young people are becoming less fit and more obese. He feels that adults should exercise not only to benefit themselves but also to act as role models for their children.

Finally, don't be discouraged if some days you just don't feel like exercising. Even Oprah Winfrey admits it's not always easy. "The hardest thing is maintaining, every day, some form of exercise. It's just the hardest thing. I've adjusted to the eating and it's no problem for me. Now I prefer to have a French fry that's baked to a French fry that's fried in oil.... But it's the fact that [exercise] never ends, that every day you have to get up and do something." On days when it's hard to follow your routine, try motivating yourself by reviewing the many benefits connected with exercise.

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Find Time for Exercise

No time to work out? That may be the number one complaint of nonexercisers. Carving time out of your schedule for yet another commitment may seem impossible, but I'd venture to say that anyone who isn't currently exercising can devote at least 20 minutes to physical activity three to four times a week.

For starters, let's consider the amount of time average Americans spend in front of the television--15 to 18 hours a week. Imagine the strides you could make toward better fitness if you used even one quarter of that time for exercise!

If you really want exercise to stick, try some of the following strategies:

* Allow yourself to set an easy, comfortable pace. Too often individuals feel they must push themselves to the limit to reap the benefits of exercise. On the contrary, research has indicated again and again that a moderate approach to exercise is best, mentally and physically.

* Schedule exercise as you would any commitment or appointment. If you plan your workouts for a specific time, they are less likely to get lost in the shuffle of a busy day.

* Don't set lofty or unrealistic goals. Make physical movement your first priority--not losing 50 pounds or running a marathon! In time your small steps will lead to big accomplishments.

* If time remains a problem, look for hidden opportunities to exercise. Personal trainer and fitness consultant Kay Schreiber suggests stealing 20 minutes while your dinner is cooking in the oven, while a load of laundry is drying, or right after the kids have gone to bed.

(*) Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright[C] 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.