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Health & Fitness

You Can't Afford a Sedentary Lifestyle!: Exercise Saves Both Health and Money

Most of us know that regular exercise can help us avoid getting heart disease, diabetes, and several other conditions. But are you aware just how money you can save by exercising regularly?

-Dawn Wolfe

We've all heard how important it is to exercise. We hear about it on television, radio, and we get the message on roadside billboards.

Thanks to those messages, most of us know that regular exercise can help us avoid getting heart disease, diabetes, and several other conditions. But are you aware just how money you can save by exercising regularly?

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Getting sick is expensive – the average person with heart disease alone loses more than $1 million over the course of his or her lifetime. According to this article on WebM.D.com, those are the direct and indirect costs of heart disease and include costs for medical treatment and lost wages. As the article says:

Those who don't have good health insurance, or no insurance, can be financially ruined by heart disease overnight. That can also be true for people who do have decent health insurance. The lost wages alone can be crippling.

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The costs of heart disease today are scary enough, but what is also true is that heart disease is getting more expensive – much more expensive. In 2011, the American Heart Association issued a press release saying that the costs of heart disease in the US will triple by 2030.

Let's look at the costs of another illness that exercise can help prevent. In 2010, the New York Time's Health/Science blog reported that diabetes patients spend an average of $6,000 a year on treatment for their condition!

The costs for either of these conditions make even the most expensive gym membership seem almost bargain-basement cheap by comparison, don't they?

The good news here, though, is that you don't have to pay top-end rates to enjoy a longer, healthier life – and save the money that chronic or life-threatening illnesses will cost you. If you're looking to enjoy a regular workout while saving money, RydeOn! offers low regular prices and provides frequent specials to help people with any sized budget improve their health and fitness.

How much exercise do you need to do to prevent breaking your bank on chronic or life-threatening illnesses? Here's where we get to some good news.

According to this article on MedicineNet.com, the short answer is: any amount of exercise helps, but more is better. And by “exercise,” the article means everything from heavy housecleaning to brisk walking to gardening. In other words, there are lots of things you can do on the days you can't get to RydeOn!. Not only that, but you don't have to exercise for a full hour at a time – smaller, intense bursts (that add up to an hour a day) will also help!

Finally, it's important to note that exercise helps at any age, young or old, as demonstrated by this family on the US Army WTF! Facebook page. And we do mean any age: according to the MedicineNet.com article:

Another study published in JAMA showed that it is never too late to reap the benefits of physical activity. Sedentary women 65 years and older who began walking a mile a day cut their rates of death from all causes by 50%.

I bet you can think of all kinds of things to do with your money that sound like much more fun than spending it on heart disease, diabetes, or other illnesses. So what are you waiting for? Get off the couch and start saving today!

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