Step 8: Stay safe

Exercise is good for you, but make sure you enjoy it as much as possible by staying safe. We don't want to put a damper on your enthusiasm, but it is important to be aware of potential dangers, including crime, traffic, and injury. Use your common sense and good judgment while exercising, and you should be fine. Here are a few tips:

Outdoor hazards

• Avoid crime by exercising with someone else, or stay in populated, well-lit areas. Carry a whistle in case you have a problem.
• Always obey traffic rules when exercising near streets or intersections. If you can, try to use sidewalks, parks, or pedestrian paths. These "exercise friendly" places take you out of the way of traffic and are much safer than the street.
• If you choose to exercise at night, wear a reflective vest or sash. This will help drivers see you in the dark.
• Do not wear headphones -- they distract your attention and obstruct your ability to hear traffic.
• Carry identification and a small amount of cash, just in case you need them.

Injury

• The risk of injury increases if you do weight-bearing exercises more than five days per week. If you exercise every day of the week (physical activity every day is good), reserve at least 1 - 2 days per week for non-weight bearing activity.
• When cycling, skating, or rollerblading, always wear a helmet and knee pads.
• Always warm up before your workout, and cool down after it. Don't forget to stretch when you are done.
• Don't do the same kind of exercise day after day. You want to avoid putting too much stress on one part of the body while neglecting the others. Don't continue to exercise on joints that hurt -- stop or change your activity.

Dehydration and overheating

• Drink plenty of water or sports drink before, during, and after you exercise. This is important at all times of the year, but especially when exercising in warm weather.
• Take it slow and be cautious about pushing your limits. Don't push yourself too hard, especially in the heat. Remember that you still need to replenish fluid even when you don't feel thirsty. If you do feel dizzy, lightheaded, or sluggish -- stop, rest, and drink fluids immediately!
• Heat stroke is a medical emergency. It may decrease your level of consciousness or even cause a seizure. If you experience any of the more serious symptoms -- such as nausea, headache, confusion, clamminess, trouble focusing, fever, or sudden lack of sweating -- you should go to the hospital right away. You should also promptly see a doctor if your heavy breathing, dizziness, and excessive fatigue remain after you have rested and replenished fluids.
• If heat, humidity, or pollution makes exercise too hard, exercise indoors or during cooler hours.

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language.

© 1997- A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

All content on this site including text, images, graphics, audio, video, data, metadata, and compilations is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may view the content for personal, noncommercial use. Any other use requires prior written consent from Ebix. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, display, publish, reverse-engineer, adapt, modify, store beyond ordinary browser caching, index, mine, scrape, or create derivative works from this content. You may not use automated tools to access or extract content, including to create embeddings, vectors, datasets, or indexes for retrieval systems. Use of any content for training, fine-tuning, calibrating, testing, evaluating, or improving AI systems of any kind is prohibited without express written consent. This includes large language models, machine learning models, neural networks, generative systems, retrieval-augmented systems, and any software that ingests content to produce outputs. Any unauthorized use of the content including AI-related use is a violation of our rights and may result in legal action, damages, and statutory penalties to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ebix reserves the right to enforce its rights through legal, technological, and contractual measures.

© 1997- All rights reserved.