reading and the brain

As a teen, I could see that most adults I saw during a day were out of shape.  I can understand that some physical limitations prevent much exercise.  But, since I like to read, which takes me into places, times and realms of ideas that cannot be visited in any other way (or so quickly and inexpensively), in high school I figured that walking, running, stretching, yoga, lifting weights and other forms of exercise such as swimming and biking, are needed to keep what is actually an ape's body working well while spending plenty of time in front of a page or a computer.

It is something of a mystery why people are so reluctant to exercise.  I spoke to a woman that I see in the weight room often about her own motivation.  Why does she regularly exercise when some of her own relatives don't?  She said it was because she is a nurse working with kidney failure and sees what regular exercise can do. 

Today's news item comparing steps per day in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia shows that Americans do about half the recommended ten thousand steps per day while the other nations average much closer to the recommendation. 

As I age, my desire to be able to read, write and watch tv and movies requires that I get my walking or jogging, weights and stretching/yoga/core tensing and moving.  That is the cost of the activities I want to be able to do. Eventually, I willl be unable to maintain my body but until then, I keep on.