The human body is made to move. Why else would we have 640 muscles? But many people spend much of their days sedentary (up to eight or nine hours of sitting).

A sedentary lifestyle can double your risk of developing diabetes and increase your risk for heart disease, obesity, and cancer.

Too much sitting can even decrease your life expectancy by up to two years.

Use the tips in this infographic to fit more activity into your busy day.

More than 18 million U.S. adults crossed the finish line of a running race last year, according to industry group Running USA.

Even if you never pin on a race bib, lacing up and stepping out can have big benefits for body and mind.

Here are 10 research-proven benefits of running.

Teaching your kids about healthy eating is increasingly important as they approach their teens and begin making more independent choices about their food.

A recent study shows teens drink less soda when they understand how much exercise they’d need to sizzle off those liquid calories.

Want to know what your meal choices add up to in workouts? This infographic sums up some common foods and an estimate of the amount of activity it would take to burn off the calories.

So you’ve decided to buy a fitness tracker to help you meet your health goals. Great! Now you need to choose a tracker that’s right for you.

Are you looking to simply count your steps, or would you like to measure your heart rate and manage your schedule, too?

Use this information to help you find the features you want while staying within your budget.

Here’s how exercise can help you maintain your independence as you age.

As if you need another reason to exercise, maintaining your independence as you age can be added to the list of benefits physical activity offers. Regular exercise not only helps improve your physical health, but it can make you more mobile, helps reduce the chance of falls and may also improve your brain.

Being able to move better makes it more likely you’ll maintain your independence. You’ll be able to walk farther and perform daily activities on your own, such as carrying groceries, climbing stairs, making your own meals, doing laundry or going to the mailbox. Exercise also lowers the risk of falls, which is the leading cause of disability in older adults.

Additionally, physical activity has been shown to help your brain as you age. One study found that exercise may improve brain function such as planning, perception and decision-making skills.

Should you work out in the morning? Or wait until later in the day? Find out if timing makes a difference.

Working out, no matter when you do it, is good for your health. But is there a time of day that’s better to get it done? Most experts agree that the best time of day to exercise is the time when you will do it most consistently.

The key to exercise’s benefits is to do it on a regular basis. So whenever you’re most likely to stick with it, that’s the best time of day to exercise for you.

There are some differences in how the time of day affects your performance and other factors, but the differences are minor compared to the importance of finding a time that you’ll stick with. If you feel you can get your workout completed at any time of day, here are a few things to consider when you’re deciding between early and late workout sessions:

Pet ownership may positively affect physical and mental health, according to many studies completed over the years. Researchers haven’t been able to show actual proof that owning a dog is better for your heart, but they have drawn links between heart-healthy benefits and dog ownership. Experts at the American Heart Association think there’s enough evidence to reasonably assume that owning a dog may reduce heart disease risk.

What are some of the heart-healthy benefits dog owners may experience?

• More exercise. Dog owners typically get more exercise than non-owners. When Fido needs to be walked, it means you need to get out and move, too.

Simon says, “Touch your toes.” Sounds easy enough, but as we age our bodies seem to stiffen up and lose some of their flexibility, adding a whole new level of difficulty to this simple child’s game.

Flexibility and range of motion are directly related to the health of our joints. Joints are the areas where bones come together. They allow our skeletons to move and bend. Bones do not come in direct contact within the joint, but are cushioned by cartilage, membranes, fluid and connective tissues.

“Certain changes that take place in our connective tissues as we age can have an impact on our flexibility and range of motion,” says Brett Sweitzer, MD, attending orthopedic surgeon at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia and Einstein Medical Center Montgomery. “Fluid in the joints may decrease, cartilage may begin to wear away, and connective tissue may thicken. All of this can contribute to decreased flexibility.”

For the past few years, short, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been all the rage. Now there’s reason to believe slow and steady cardio is the way to go for weight loss and fat burning.

Known as low-intensity steady state (LISS) training, this method focuses on consistent effort and low intensity for longer periods of time. The idea is to keep your heart rate steady, at 60 to 80 percent of your maximum rate, for the entire workout.

You will clearly burn calories with either kind of workout. Yet the science behind LISS shows that if your heart rate goes too high, you’re mostly burning glucose (sugar). Slower, lower-capacity workouts are better for burning body fat.

Ready to Start?

Sports bras have come a long way from their humble beginnings when the first versions were no more than two jockstraps sewed together.

Forty years later, Theresa Toczylowski, MPT, a physical therapist at MossRehab, spoke at the Broad Street Run Health and Wellness Expo about the importance of selecting the right sports bra for runners.

She broke down the options:

Compression Sports Bra

A compression sports bra helps to control the up and down movement of the breasts during activity. This option is best for lighter athletic activity and not preferred for running.