Melissa Healy, in a November 1, 2012 Los Angeles Times article  about the benefits of exercise asks, “So, what’s it worth to lace up those sneakers and break a sweat for about 30 minutes a day? About 3.5 extra years of life, on average — and about 4.2 additional years for those willing to step up the intensity or put in closer to an hour a day of brisk walking or its equivalent, according to a new study.”

Exercise has always been an important part of my life. However, I have learned as I’ve aged to listen to my body and tailor my exercise program to how my body feels and how much energy I have. However, I still try to get in at least an hour a day and some days even more.

Even in my fatty childhood days, I went to dance classes and learned to be a pretty good swimmer, but I wasn’t serious about exercise until junior high. It was then that I learned to play team sports like basketball and field hockey and took modern dance classes. Remember those awful gym suits we had to wear? Mine was a green, one-piece with elasticized bloomer shorts.

I also rode my bike to school – a mile to and from, twice a day for a total of four miles a day. All that pedaling sure slimmed my legs down, and by the time I turned 12, my baby fat was gone.

From then on I was hooked because I had already experienced the benefits. But through the years my exercise routine kept changing, in keeping with my aging body.

During my twenties I exercised a bit but not regularly. Then when I became pregnant with my first child I started practicing Yoga. A friend taught me the basic moves and I went to a class. Yoga proved very beneficial after the Cesarean Section delivery. The nurses couldn’t believe how well I was able to move almost right away.

Right after my first son was born I joined a gym. We lived right across the street from a woman’s only gym and spa, and I looked out the window with envy as woman after woman went inside until I became a member. While still keeping up with my Yoga at the gym, I also discovered the importance of weight training. I worked out regularly at the gym right up until our second son was born.

Then I discovered tennis. We lived on an island in the South Pacific for 19 months during my mid 30s, so I had the time to really learn the game. I played everyday while on the island and very regularly after we returned home for the next 20 years or so. I also started running, completing my first 10 K at age forty. However, as I aged I found I couldn’t run the 10Ks anymore. Running hurt my hip probably as a result of my scoliosis, so after I turned 50 I began to enter races as a walker.

Because tennis didn’t take a lot of time I gradually added aerobics to my exercise schedule. Anybody remember those fast-paced high impact aerobics classes with the loud rock music? After a few years of that I lessoned the impact on my body by taking the new step aerobics.

But after I went back to work full time, I had to make a choice between tennis and going to the gym for aerobics and weights. l didn’t have time to do both. As hard as it was to give up tennis – something I still yearn to play but only do when my tennis instructor son will hit with me, I went to the gym most mornings at six for an aerobics class or a weight session.

And the relationships I made in that class really helped after my oldest son’s suicide death 13 years ago. My workout buddies got me to go back to class almost immediately, and since then I hardly ever miss a day of exercise. Exercise has been one of my healing balms.

That brings me to what I do now. I still workout everyday, but I vary my routine. I do cardio most days either on the elliptical trainer, the treadmill, or by taking long walks to the beach near our home. I do Yoga stretching after my gym cardio work outs, I still lift some relatively low weights a couple of times a week, but my current love is Pilates. I find the Pilates stretching and exercises really have helped my core, back, balance, and posture. It is slow-paced and never hurts – it’s not as challenging as some of the heavy weight bearing Yoga moves I used to do. Plus it’s easy to adjust the level of intensity to fit my strength level. My instructor keeps telling me my Pilates work is making me grow, but so far I’ve haven’t gained back the two inches I’ve already lost.

What I have gained is a body free from aches and pain and the need to take lowering cholesterol and blood pressure medicines. And perhaps I’ll also receive an extra few years of life. With that result, I have to consider my ever-changing exercise program a success.