Exercising

Instead of my usual musings and gardening stories, I thought I might share some of the ideas that motivate my regimen of exercise. First of all, I do know how difficult exercising is for people with ME.  Do I ever! That said, not exercising can be a trap.  It feels like the right thing to do, but I believe it is destructive to the body to avoid exertion.  These are my ideas, so if anyone disagrees, I never have a problem with that.  For a long time, I was into "saving steps" around the house and I understand that point of view.  It could be the right approach for all I know, but I don't think it is. What many don't understand about exercise is that it doesn't just build strength and endurance.  When you exercise regularly, you develop bone and connective tissue too.  Bone density is directly correlated with physical activity.  One of the biggest problems astronauts have to deal with is decalcification and softening of their skeletons due to the loss of gravity's stress on their bodies.  That's why they exercise so rigorously "out there". Ligaments, tendons, connective tissue within muscles and throughout the body change dramatically when exercise is limited.  The body becomes prone to sprains, bruises, muscle tears and fractures. For example, when I took a tumble with my bicycle the other day, I was a bit sore afterward, but only for a day.  Had I not been exercising regularly, the result would have been very different.  Elderly, inactive people can easily break a hip just falling a few feet onto a hard floor.  And statistics show that they usually go downhill from there, and in fact don't live long after an injury like that, sad but true. So it's hard, very hard for someone with ME to exercise.  But we have a lot to lose by not exercising.