Dollars and Sense. About That Exercise.

Here’s the preamble to this post. I comforted a dear member of my family who fought bravely for so long against cancer. What would I now give, how much would I now pay, to have her back? All of it. The bottom line — and I know you know this, but it bears repeating — is that there is no price you can put on health. 

But we often downplay our own health, and can even be dissuaded from exercise because of the high cost of a gym membership, or weights you might only use once, or the overwhelming array of exercise gear choices you could buy. If you invest in any of those, is that money coming back? Or is it just gone?   

The Money You Get Back

According to this research in the Journal of the American Heart Association if you are active on even a somewhat regular basis (only 3 hours PER WEEK!!) you save between $500 and $2500 per year on healthcare costs, depending on whether you’re already at low or high risk for cardiovascular disease. That’s up to 200 bucks per month! 

And that’s great, but the effect gets even better over time.

If you’re moderately active in your life, you will save an average of $1,300 every year in Medicare costs, once you get there. But if you’re young and your brain obviously hasn’t fully developed, you may still think that this doesn’t apply to you. You may figure that you can still blow off all this health stuff. Well, those who started being active in early adulthood saved $1,874 dollars in annual Medicare costs, which you’re going to need to go see your ROMEOs in the afternoon — also known as “Retired Old Men Eating Out”, lol. 

What About Up Front Costs

If the gym’s your thing, do that. If running’s your thing, or cycling, or swatting a badminton birdie is what you’re all about, then you’ll drop the cash to make that happen. But if you just want to be active, you don’t have to because honestly you have a ton of free options to choose from. 

For me personally, I just look up 30 minute exercise videos on YouTube and find ones that make the most sense for me. There are so many choices for kickboxing, straight aerobics, yoga, high intensity interval training, etc. And all those are free. And free is my favorite price, especially since the money I save by just being active every day is going to add up quick.  

And the great thing about starting with activities that don’t cost a lot of money is that it’s much easier to just test the waters with one thing or another. If you don’t end up loving it, at least you tried and will get a better idea of what you do happen to like. 

So don’t be put off by the cost of activity. Choose the approach that’s right for your budget and, if the research is right, whatever you choose you’ll get your investment back and be healthier in the process.