Back to About Your Health

Make More Money by Getting Fit

Now what's that about!? ... People who are fit make $1.42 more per hour than those who are not.

I read that in a recent issue of Money magazine. I was as stunned as you perhaps. That difference of $1.42/hr adds up to an additional $56.80 per week and a whopping $2,953.60 per year considering a paid vacation. Wow!

Here are my educated guesses as to why people who are fit make more money than those who aren't. I'll give you the negative reasons first then finish with the positive.

There are always exceptions ... but in general people who are fit weigh a lot less than those who are not fit.

Everywhere you look you'll find articles about the negative health effects of being overweight. Did you know that the Surgeon General is now more concerned about people's weight than he is about the damaging effects of smoking cigarettes?

Simply stated all of the diseases that ruin your quality of life and kill you are related to excess weight - diabetes, cancer, dementia, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease.

If your body is busy either developing a disease or dealing with the problems that erupt with disease will you have the energy to compete for a higher salary? Will you have the energy to promote your business to increase your income? Probably not.

On the other hand, we know that exercise helps prevent diabetes and even reverse it by stabilizing blood sugar levels and improving insulin uptake by the cells. This means that blood sugar gets metabolized instead of clogging up arteries in your kidneys, eyes, heart, sex organs, and legs. These are some of the places damaged with Diabetes.

Exercise improves the strength and responsiveness of your immune system. This not only leads to fewer colds and flu but also a decreased chance of developing cancer. Instead of sitting around like couch potatoes -- with exercise -- your immune cells are primed to recognize abnormal cells that might develop into cancer and abolish them.

Exercise promotes circulation defeating artery clogging plaques that lead to dementia, strokes and heart attacks. The good fats in your blood, like HDL's, increase while the bad ones, like triglycerides and apolipoprotein A, decrease to preserve the health of arteries in your brain as well as the rest of your body.

Does anyone need more convincing that exercise helps to build strong bones? We can take calcium supplements - only one of the many important minerals for bone health, but if you don't stress your bones with weight-bearing and strength exercise there's no stimulus for the calcium that you're taking to be deposited into your bones.

Women can't resist a bargain ... With regular exercise; you get a multitude of positive effects for the action of one - exercise. You've known for a long time about the health producing effects of exercise. Now that you know it also increases your income, perhaps you've got the motivation you need to make exercise a lifetime choice!