Each day, your food and physical activity choices affect your health — how you feel today, tomorrow, and in the future.  From the very young to students to seniors, physical activity is a necessary component of a healthy lifestyle.

For all people, some activity is better than none.  If you aren’t limited by chronic health problems, you should be as active as you can be.  Physical activity reduces fat, helps control weight, builds lean muscle, promotes strong bone, muscle and bone development and decreases the risk of obesity.   People with chronic health problems should talk to a health care provider about physical activity before beginning any program.
Adults ages 18-64 should participate in at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily; equal to 8,500 pedometer steps. Breathing harder and faster than normal, but you can still talk, is a good indicator that you are performing at a moderate-intense, aerobic level.

Youth and teens (ages 6-17) need 60 minutes of physical activity with moderate to vigorous activity per day, at least 5 days a week.  Use a pedometer as another way to measure daily activity steps: girls’ goal 11,000 and boys’ 13,000.  Preschoolers love to move!  Encourage preschoolers to actively play several times a day.

Everyone can gain from the health benefits of physical activity – age, ethnicity, shape or size do not matter. For other tips, visit http://igrow.org/, where you can find information on a variety of timely topics.