Health Tips : Exercise
0By Winston Salem in : Fitness Tips // Jun 28 2010
What Is Exercise?
• Physical activity doesn’t need to be strenuous to achieve health benefits.
• Men and women of all ages benefit from a moderate amount of daily physical activity (for example – 30 minutes of brisk walking or 15 minutes of jogging).
• Previously sedentary people who start physical activity programs should start with short sessions (5-10 minutes) and build up to the desired level of physical activity.
Why Is Exercise So Important?
• Exercise improves quality of life.
• Exercise extends longevity, protects against the development of CHD, stroke, hypertension, obesity, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, colon cancer, and depression.
• Physical activity helps maintain full functioning and independence among the elderly.
• Relationships between exercise and improved health include
o A lowered oxygen demand at any given level of physical activity.
o A decreased tendency for blood to form clots where arteries have narrowed.
o an increased elasticity in the arteries.
o Changes in the brain and brain chemistry that may improve mood and cognitive functioning.
The Facts About Exercise
• More than 60 percent of United States adults don’t engage in the recommended amount of activity.
• Approximately 25% of United States adults aren’t active at all.
• A 1993 study concerning causes of death in the USA – #1 Tobacco, #2 Lack of exercise/poor diet, #3 Alcohol.
• Chronic disease costs the United States $655 Billion in health care costs.
• In this year, 1.5 million individuals will have a heart attack in the USA and 500,000 will die.
General Recommendations for Physical Activity
• Control your health status through a medical checkup before starting a workout program.
• Progress slowly in the fitness program.
• Select primarily activities which engage as large a muscle mass as possible, ie – jogging, cycling, swimming, cross-country skiing, etc.
• Remember, it is not necessary to be exhausted to achieve improvement in fitness.
• the training must be accomplished continuously and intermittently.
• the betterment in physical fitness will depend on your initialfitness level.
• It’s never too late to start exercising regularly.
Physical Activity Lite
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) (ACSM) and the USA Centers for Illness Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend the following to exercise
• “Accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity exercise over the during most days of the week”
• Incorporating more activity into your daily routine can improve your health status
• Daily activities may include
o walking stairs (instead of taking the elevator)
o gardening
o raking leaves
o dancing
o mall walking while shopping
o carrying a grocery basket rather than pushing a cart (when applicable)
o parking in the farthest parking spot and walking to the office or store
o carrying or pushing a golf bag instead of taking a cart while golfing
• Alternately, 30 minutes of activity may come from planned exercise or recreation
Want to know more about exercise?
Be sure to check out the Surgeon General’s Report on Exercise
