By Mollee Tscholl

Mollee Tscholl is co-owner of Albert Lea’s Snap Fitness

Physical fitness is defined as being in a state of good health. It not only includes exercising regularly, but also getting enough rest, consuming a healthy diet and balancing stress levels. The benefits of being physically fit are vast, but three big ones are healthy weight control, decreased risk of disease and an overall higher quality of life.

The value something holds can also be described as it’s worth. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the value our country places on physical fitness. It seems to be becoming less and less, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because we’ve become so busy, we just don’t have time. Maybe it’s because we’re tired, because we’ve become so busy. Or maybe it’s because we’ve developed bad habits because we’re so tired. Whatever the reason, we seem to have pulled away from making taking care of ourselves a priority.

I think it’s human nature to forget — forget the health problems we once had; forget that certain diseases run in our families; forget that we are aging, and aren’t going to live forever. By the time we remember, it’s usually because some unwanted diagnosis has more than likely demanded our attention, forcing us to value health care and treatment options.

So, what if we changed our thinking? And we started seeing physical fitness for what it’s worth. What if we started making time now, so we can have more time later on. What if we saw it as a savings now, rather than an expense, because of the health care bills we’ll be more likely to avoid later on down the road.

The value of something is, more often then not, in the eye of the beholder. So, take a look at yourself and decide today to make physical fitness a priority in your life. The benefits you’ll receive will be worth it!