The smell of warm, fresh mulch, the scent of flowers blooming, and the sight of fat robins scooping up stranded earthworms in my yard tell me spring is now here in earnest.
More bikes stand locked up at the el stop. More neon-clad early risers run down our streets with feet whispering over the pavement, eyes fixed on the horizon, ears plugged into a jam that keeps them jamming.
Active living feels great year-round, but it feels especially great in spring. Some seasons are more equal than others.
I love running through our neighborhoods as dawn breaks or as dusk collects. I like looking at the gorgeous houses, blossoming yards, the greening grass. I run down Lake Street and see what people are up to, past the library glowing like a starship, up that little hill in Taylor Park with benches at the top, and then down by Ridgeland Common and a pickup game of soccer.
If exercise were a pill, a pill that could be sold for lots of money, it would be an absolute blockbuster. People would line up for it. The ads on television would drown out everything else. The drug companies would spell it funny and put it in futuristic fonts. Ask your doctor if Exyrcyze is right for you.
I don’t know about Exyrcyze. But exercise is absolutely right for you. Along with healthy eating, it forms the foundation of good health. As little as 10 minutes of physical activity a day confers meaningful, measurable benefits. Jogging at any pace for a total of two hours a week confers near maximal benefit when it comes to health, cutting mortality risk by a third or more.
A third.
Exercise goes toe-to-toe with our most powerful heart drugs in terms of benefit, and those drugs cost a fortune compared to your old beat-up pair of gym shoes. An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. There is nothing more worthwhile for your health than time spent moving.
Spring — this spring, this day — is a great time to recommit to physical activity as an integral part of your lifestyle. Right when you finish this Viewpoint — heck even right now, midsentence — is a great time to kick off a new season of fitness, a lifetime of wellness.
What is the hardest part of being active? Lacing up your shoes. The wind is at your back from there.
R. Kannan Mutharasan, M.D., an Oak Park resident, is a cardiologist and co-director of Sports Cardiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.