The Need for Gays to Exercise
By Andy Heath
I know what you're thinking. Oh Andy, have you become so shallow that you think gays need to exercise so we can all be hot and sexy and then find it easier to hook up with each other?
Well, no. Not exactly. First of all, there is nothing wrong with physical exercise. In addition to spiritual beings, we are also physical beings. We cannot change that until after we die, and the very simple fact is that the happiest and greatest Buddhist monk in the world has a physical body. We all have them, and we ignore them to our own detriment. How can our bodies inhabit this world without physical bodies? They are our means of our interaction in the world.
Therefore we cannot ignore our physical bodies. The healthier they are, the longer we will be in a position to make a difference in this world - our physical world. This is the only way we can make a meaningful difference in the world. That is not to say that there are no spiritual beings that make a meaningful difference in the world, because I believe there certainly are, but we are here for a reason. That reason is to make a contribution to the world.
Now that I've gone off on that tangential diatribe, let's get back to exercise. Thirty minutes a day, five days a week of elevated heart rate is what most doctors recommend for most people. Not everyone can be Michael Phelps and win eight gold medals during one set of Olympic games, but that does not mean we cannot be healthy and maintain an adequate body weight. If you want to try to beat Michael Phelps's record, thirty minutes a day will not be nearly enough. But it will be enough to stave off deadly problems such as hypertension, heart disease, and sometimes even cancer.
To be honest, I am a bit overweight for my height, but I am working diligently on that. I am trying to eat healthier as well as ride a bicycle (it's May 2009 as I write this, but it will not be published until the end of 2009, so bear with me). A few days ago, I published an article about gays' increased risk of depression. Because I have also suffered from Depression for the majority of my life, I try to do anything I can to relieve that depression. One thing I have found that works to do so very well - you guessed it - is exercise. When I am physically active, the exercise literally alters my brain chemistry to make me feel better. And when I feel better, I am a more prolific writer.
You might wonder why it is so important for me to be a prolific writer. The reason is that writing is what I do. I maintain this blog and update it every other day. I also write additional articles from time to time that are outside the regular blog update schedule. I have written one novel and am currently working on another one. And from time to time, I write articles for other people. Writing is what I do. So what do you do? Are you a doctor or lawyer, painter or ditch digger? It doesn't matter. The fact is that when we exercise, it alleviates our depression. And when we are feeling good emotionally, it makes us better at whatever we do. The simple fact is that depressed doctors are not as effective as happy doctors. Depressed ditch diggers do not work as well as happy ditch diggers. Whatever your profession, you will do better if you are not depressed. Whoever you are, you will make a greater contribution to the world if you are not depressed. And whoever you are, your risk of being depressed is substantially mitigated by exercise.
So if gays want to be young and beautiful and have a lot of sex, certainly exercise is a great activity to bring them closer to that goal. But if gays want to make a meaningful contribution to the world and stave off the negative effects of depression, then exercise is just as effective.
