Fitness Tips – How Much Exercise Should You Do?

Americans are always wanting to find a short cut. There is no quick fix. Attaining fitness requires a lifestyle change and making the right healthy choices. The most benefits come from cardio-respiratory fitness, and to attain this a regular exercise program is often needed. Failing this, making active choices, such as using a push mower rather than a power mower, and walking to each tee rather than using a golf cart on the golf course, will help one stay fit.

Those who promote fitness exercise are following along the more recent lines of nutritionists’ thinking, he says, which involves behavior modification. If you do not change your behavior and make it a lifestyle change, it’s not going to become a habit.

The message that many experts are starting to put out is: A little bit of exercise is good enough.

How little? All you need, is to expand 285 calories a day – 2,000 calories a week – in activities above and beyond your job.

But if it’s a healthy life you’re interested in, they write, all other things being equal, the gardener’s odds against heart disease are as good as the marathoner’s.

How much exercise you should do depends upon what you want to achieve. If you just want stress reduction, you don’t have to do aerobic exercise,… but you won’t get reduction in the risk of heart disease if you do not meet minimum standards of exercise. That means exercising at 60 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes at least three times a week. Do less than that and you will never achieve a level of conditioning. You won’t improve.

But being moderately fit is OK. In a paper based on data collected at the researchers showed that the largest difference in mortality – about 60 percent – was between the sedentary and people who were only moderately fit, as judged by performance on treadmill exercise tests.

It’s dangerous to do nothing and easy to do enough.

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Calories burned in a single hour
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The following figures are for a man weighing 180 pounds and a woman weighing 130 pounds.
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Activity Men Women
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Cooking 216 156
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Chopping wood 414 299
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Mowing lawn 486 351
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Scrubbing floors 522 377
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Trimming trees 630 455
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Gardening 576 416
(heavy chores)
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Painting outside 378 273
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Washing the car 270 195
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House cleaning 288 208
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Raking 270 195
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Stocking shelves 270 195
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Window cleaning 288 208
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Fishing 234 169
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Universal Life Insurances Can Be Popular – But Is It For You?

Of all the different types of policies, the universal life insurance seems to be the most favorite among today’s policyholders. It is a much later innovation, conceived to meet a modern need. However, it does not mean that the earlier policies have all become redundant. No, even term life, the original life insurance policy, has quite a big following even today and so have the whole life policies. Nonetheless, people seem to prefer universal life because it combines the low cost protection of the term life with the saving elements of a whole life to provide a perfect solution to modern insurance need.I am sure you are aware that the term life is the original type of insurance policy. Indeed, life insurance may have actually started in the form of burial clubs and artisans’ guilds in the Middle Ages, but the term insurance that we know of today is a much refined version. It is a pure life insurance policy valid a temporary period only. You can buy one for a period of 1/5/10/15/20/25/30 years. Since these policies do not accrue any cash value, you can have a large coverage at a very reasonable rate.However, on the con side, unless you die within the valid period, the term insurance policies offer no return. The whole life policies were next conceived as its antidote. They had saving element incorporated in them. However, such policies were little too expensive and premium payment mode was little too rigid. The universal policies came next. It became instant hit because it offered more flexibility when it comes to cost and coverage.Indeed, if you want to take advantage of the market without loosing the security of the life policy, there can be nothing better than a universal life. Following are some of its salient points:• It is a permanent policy valid for the life of the insured and so whenever the insured dies, his beneficiary is sure to get the benefit.
• These policies are slightly overpriced and amount paid above the cost of insurance is credited to a cash value account.
• Interest too is credited to the account. It may either be determined by the insurer or pegged to financial indexes such as stock, bond etc.
• If you fail to pay the premium, the amount will be debited from this account, thus keeping policy in force in spite of occasional lapses.Today we also have variable universal insurance, which allows the cash value to be directed to a number of separate accounts that operate like a mutual fund. However, since these policies are equity based, they can offer higher return, but if the market goes down, they offer greater risk too. If you are buying the policy solely for insurance purpose, such a policy may not be a very good idea because the death benefit will be paid as long as you have enough cash value to pay the costs of insurance in the policy.However, it is not for me to tell you what type of policy to buy. Receive different categories of life insurance quote on line and then decide. All said and done, I cannot stop myself from adding that, for life insurance purpose, you will do well if you buy only a term life insurance. It is true that a term life does not offer cash value, but its rates are so low that only a financial fool will expect it from the policy. Instead, the financial advisers say that one should buy a low cost term life for insurance purpose and then invest the difference in separate fund.However, not every type of term insurance is cheap. The term life insurance no medical exam policy for example is so expensive that the concept of investing the difference cannot be applicable here; in fact, the price structure of such a policy does not leave any difference to invest. Sometimes they are as expensive as a universal life policy is. Yet, such policies are no less popular because they too have some unique advantages.No medical policies provide instant coverage. You apply today and if you qualify, your family will start being covered by the policy from tomorrow and that too for the full amount. Of course, just as every other case, suicide within first two years is always excluder from its purview; otherwise, every other type of death in included under this policy. You may wonder why this policy is so expensive. Actually, without the medical test, the carriers can never work out the exact cost of insurance and so they charge more. Remember, they are here to do business, not for charity.

Interior Design Career – Should You Go For Design Firms Or Self Employment?

The interior design career is a very exciting career. But if you decide to join this industry, it is better to know some of the important features of this industry. This will help you to know the pros and cons as also help you to get an idea of the kind of work that is needed to succeed in this field.In 2006, there were around 72,000 interior designers in the United States. Between 2006 and 2016, there has been stipulated to be a 19% growth in the field. To be successful in the interior design career, you need to be highly competitive and have organization and artistic skills.Two things that are very important in this field are experience and education. There is a lot of creativity, flexibility and variety in the profession. This profession requires a lot of challenges and there is no particular way to approach in this profession. This is one profession where you can customize your approach to suit your needs. But there are a few important things that you need to consider in this field.Do you want to go for design firms or be self employed? The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there a marked 26% of interior designers are self employed. Both kinds of jobs have some benefits and some disadvantages. There are some ways in which you can find out which kind of job suits you best.Work HoursWhen you work for a small firm or are self employed, work hours will vary widely. This means that you will be able to adjust your work hours according to your needs. But if you start your career with a job at a big design firm, then the work hours will be more strong and predictable. So if you like flexible work set up, and then you should go for self employment. But if you prefer the regularity and predictability of a set up work schedule, then you should go for design firms.EnvironmentAn interior design career needs opportunities. Needless to say, the opportunities are more in a large design firm. Both in terms of clients as well as equipments, you can hone your skills much better in a large design firm. The work environment is more comfortable. The equipments are more modern.Specialists and other firms have good contacts with large design firms. This means that the ways for your opportunity are many. So if you are beginning an interior design career, most of the time it is better to go with big design firms than to open own business.ClientsThis is a very important aspect of interior design career. The main stay of the interior design career is to have clients. Now in a big design firm, you might not have the right to choose which clients to take and which to turn down. You can do this if you have your own firm. But the problem there is that unless your firm becomes reputed, you might have problems in getting clients. Getting clients is the main focus of design companies.