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Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 13, 2017 (SKNIS): Health officials in the Ministry of Health are encouraging citizens and residents alike to create structured exercise programmes as part of their daily routine as a way of living healthier lifestyles, which can in turn prolong lives.

“Exercise is something that should be structured and planned. So exercise is a structured and planned physical activity. It is not that you are going to be walking to or from work and you think that that’s enough and you don’t need to structure an exercise. I think that all of us need to have a structured exercise programme,” said Dr. Hazel Laws, Chief Medical Officer, during her appearance on “Working for You” on Wednesday, September 13.

Dr. Laws suggested different types of exercises that persons can do to keep them in the best possible shape as they seek to live healthier lifestyles.

“You have endurance or aerobic exercises, which include walking, jogging, swimming, cycling. It gets your heart beat up and it improves your heart and lung function,” said Dr. Laws. “You also have strengthening or resistance exercises. That’s also important. It involves using weights. Very important because as we age we automatically lose strength in our muscle fibres and we lose our muscle cells. So this is a natural part of ageing and so strengthening exercises help to combat that aspect of the ageing process.” Some men, and women, may think that weight lifting is for the younger person, but that is not the case at all. Excersises that involve inner chest work can help to improve a range of motion in the arms and shoulders.

She reiterated that strengthening exercises are important, as well as flexibility exercises “whereby you stretch to maintain your full range of motivation of your joints in your shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, hip joints” to name a few. Knowing exactly what exercises to do so that these joints can be improved can be challenging, however, luckily there are several articles online, such as this Unlock Your Hip Flexors review, which can help people find the best product. This is especially useful to people who are new to exercise and may need help getting started.

This is also true for finding the right clothes to exercise in. People should invest in proper exercise clothes, from mens oversized tracksuits to women’s sports bras and leggings, to give your body that freedom and flexibilty. Exercising in stiffer clothes could not only make you uncomfortable, but cause you injury too. She also comments that healthy eating and supplements can also aid your exercises, allowing you to live a healthy life. Dietary supplements similar to Foundation Four (see foundation four reviews here) can aid with gut health, provide high energy, and other health benefits to ensure that your workout works for you.

The chief medical officer encourages persons to include, in addition to walking three or four times a week, one or two days of weight exercises when structuring or planning their exercise programme, as there are many benefits to exercising such as reducing one’s risk of major illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer.