Fitness is a Gift to Others

Last week, a friend of mine was telling me about her 2 aunts. Both are about 60 years old. One aunt has always been athletic and fit and the other has always been sedentary. Now, at 60, the fit aunt is still active and the sedentary aunt is still sedentary - only she has trouble standing up from a chair!

After my friend told this story, I kept thinking about how much more fun the fit aunt must be to her family and friends than the sedentary one.

I feel that, although we think we do it for ourselves, being fit and healthy is a gift to our family, friends and the community in which we live. This is true in so many ways. Here's just a few of them.

For our Family:

For our spouses, we give them the gift of being paired with someone who looks good and feels good. Waking up everyday next to someone who has the energy and spirit to embrace the day is life enriching.

Does the "looks good" comment sound superficial? Think about this. How does it feel to be at a social function and know that the man or woman across the room receiving "attention" from people his/her own age (or even younger) is the person that chooses to be with you everyday? It feels good doesn't it? This feeling is a gift to our spouse.

Superficialities aside, we give our spouses many other gifts by being fit. Better sex and love making is a very important one! Fit people have more strength, endurance, energy and better blood flow. All these contribute to better sex? Not to mention feeling good about our own body helps us to be freer with our partners.

By being fit and healthy, we increase our spouse's confidence in having a long and active life with us. A wonderful gift indeed!

For our children, we give them the gift of healthy, active parents. Having fit parents is predictive of our children being fit themselves. We give them the gift of being more patient and helpful to them because we have the physical resources to do so. We give them the freedom from worry that we will require hospice care while they are still young adults raising their own kids.

For our grandkids, we give them the gift of being able to play with them - I mean really play with them. How proud will they be to have such "cool" grandparents? We show them how important fitness is to living long, active and fun lives.

For our sisters and brothers, we give them the gift of being loved by someone who respects themselves enough to take extra good care of their body.

For Our Friends:

We give them the gift of having lots of energy for them. Cultivating good friendships on top of meeting family obligations requires energy - and being fit gives us the energy and health to "go the extra distance" with our friends at middle age and later in life.

For Our Community:

We remain healthier longer and don't place a burden on the health system. We remain productive, enthusiastic members of the workforce longer. After retirement, we have time and energy to volunteer our services and skills for worthy causes. We help younger people see and feel that aging is not something to be afraid of. We are able to help those who need us.

For Our world:

Every workout, every nutritious meal, every full night's sleep and every other way we take care our bodies is a gift to someone else. It's not about being selfish. It's about keeping the body healthy so that the mind and spirit can contribute to the lives of others better and longer.

Copyright (c) 2006 Ainsley Laing

About the Author:Ainsley Laing, MSc. has been a Fitness Trainer for 25 years and writes exclusively Body for Mind eZine. She holds certifications in Group Exercise, Sports Nutrition and Person Fitness Training. Read other articles by Ainsley at www.bodyformind.com .

Hot Topics In Fitness

    Treadmll Ratings - What Most Buyers Don't Know About Treadmill Ratings

    If you're buying a treadmill, chances are you'll want to research before you buy. Everyone wants to get the best deal for a discount price. They also want to find the best treadmill to suit their work...

    Meditation Can Also Make Your Heart Happy

    Meditation is good for your heart. This is the message recently (in the year of 2006) conveyed by the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study reported that transcendental meditation (TM), a relaxatio...

    The History Of Tai Chi

    I've got something pretty miraculous to tell you about. I found out about this awesome way of balancing your mind and body. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. It's called Tai Chi and finding ...

    Tai Chi

    TaiChi is a complete and highly developed internal martial art (Neijia). A form of moving meditation, TaiChi promotes in the practitioner a sense of Qi (breath/life energy) circulation and health. As ...

    Is Home Exercise Equipment For You?

    We are bombarded with messages about the current obesity epidemic that seems to be under way and the need to combat it with daily exercise and a healthy, well-balanced diet. The FDA has even redesigne...

    Great Cardio Workouts You Can Do At Home

    You know how important cardio workouts are for your health and wellbeing, but it's hard to get a good cardio workout in when you can't leave to house to go to the gym or for a run. Here are some great...

    5 Tips To A Strong, Muscular Physique!

    For over ten years now, I have been a drug-free competitive bodybuilder, and I can tell you first hand what it takes to develop a muscular physique. In this article, I want to discuss with you my top ...

    Pulsating Tinnitus - Here's How To Beat It

    Throbbing Tinnitus - What Causes It?

    When you can hear a regular pulsing noise in your ears in tune with your your heart beat that is probably pulsatile tinnitus. There may be single or many rhythmi...

    The Top 5 Yoga Positions

    Often times the right information can change a person's life. This happened with me and yoga.

    There are a lot of yoga positions and poses that is built to enhance posture.

    All things consider...

    Why Weight Train During Pregnancy?

    There was once a time that a pregnant woman was thought of as "fragile". Any form of exercise was strictly prohibited by doctors and feared by concerned fathers. We've now come to realize that a pregn...

    3 Steps To Starting a Successful Fall Exercise Program

    Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.

    Fall is the time for new beginnings. New...

    The Importance Of Creatine In Building Lean Muscle

    Creatine monohydrate can rightly lay claim to being the most popular and arguably most effective bodybuilding supplement currently available. The beauty of creatine is that it is 100% natural and occu...

Most Recent Fitness Supplements

Interesting Today:

Most Recent Fitness Blogs:

Releated to Fitness:

Fitness Links:

Fitness Fitness Rss feeds.