Physical activity contributes to maintaining good health and has been shown to reduce the risk of developing some chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Physical activity also improves mental health making you more focused and relaxed. If you are facing mental health complications, you can visit medambien today to see all the best quality medications available.
What is Physical Activity?
Although the term sounds pretty self-explanatory, physical activity, in better terms, is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles against some resistance. It is both an intrinsic motivation to perform physical activity and an extrinsic reward for active behaviour. Physical activity can be divided into three categories:
1) Cardiorespiratory endurance - the ability or capacity to sustain a finite number of intense physical activities over time. This includes activities such as running, cycling, swimming, and long-distance walking, including running up or down stairs and jumping jacks.
2) Strength training - refers to exercises that involve using weights to increase muscle strength or muscle size, such as lifting weights from a bench press machine or dumbbells from a rack.
3) Aerobic exercise - refers to cardiovascular activities such as walking briskly on level ground at around 3 mph (5 km/h), jogging/running fast on flat terrain at around 5 mph (10 km/h), cycling at around 20 miles
How much physical activity do you need?
The amount of physical activity a person might need depends on many factors, such as age, gender, health conditions, etc. Children should do at least 60 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every day of the week. Adults should do at least 20 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity every day of the week. Pregnant women should aim to gain around 1.5kg (3 lbs) during pregnancy and lose this amount during breastfeeding.
Benefits of Physical Activity:
Physical activity is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle. It can help you to stay healthy and fit, live longer, and feel more energetic and happier. There are many benefits of physical activity for your health:
1. Improved sleep
Physical activity helps you fall asleep faster, stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed. In addition, it reduces feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia by releasing endorphins into the bloodstream that make you feel happy and confident about yourself – even when you're feeling tired! In addition to the stress-reducing effects of exercise, it also increases your body's production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps promote a good night's sleep.
2. Lower blood pressure
Exercise lowers blood pressure by improving your heart rate variability (HRV), which measures how well your heart beats at different rates during rest and exercise. Higher HRV is associated with lower blood pressure and better cardiovascular health in general.
3. Lower risk of developing diabetes
Regular physical activity can help keep blood sugar levels stable and reduce insulin resistance and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes — not just for people who already have diabetes but for anyone who wants to prevent it from developing in the first place!
4. Lower risk of obesity
Regular physical activity reduces your body weight and body mass index (BMI) by burning calories without increasing your appetite. Even if you don't change your eating habits, regular moderate exercise can help you lose weight by helping you control hunger hormones like ghrelin and leptin that influence hunger and food intake while helping control energy expenditure hormones like adiponectin
5. Increases Energy Levels
Physical activity is an excellent way to keep your energy levels up when you're tired or stressed. It also helps you exercise your muscles and keep them strong so that you'll still feel strong and healthy even if you're not doing anything else. It also improves mood by increasing serotonin levels in the brain, which makes you feel happier and more relaxed.
6. Improves Heart Health
Regular exercise can lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, improving your heart health over time. If you already have high blood pressure and cholesterol, exercising regularly can help prevent heart disease. It increases your heart and lung capacity by building muscle strength, improving blood circulation and reducing the risk of heart disease.
7. Reduces Risk of Stroke
Stroke is a significant cause of disability in older adults. Regular physical activity may reduce your risk of stroke by about 25 per cent. In addition to helping prevent stroke, everyday physical activities may protect against other forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia (which are both caused by brain damage).
8. Improves Metabolism
Exercise improves the function of cells called mitochondria, which produce energy for body processes such as breathing and keeping muscles moving
9. Bone density and Osteoporosis
Implementing physical activity in your daily routine increases bone density so that fractures from falls or accidents are less likely to happen in later life. But not only does physical activity help reduce bone damage from accidents, but it also helps prevent osteoporosis by building strong bones that last a lifetime because they're less likely to break down with age or fall apart after injury or trauma – making people more resistant to conditions such as arthritis or gout too!
Conclusion:
It seems like a no-brainer that exercise benefits our health, but it's important to realise just how many benefits you might be leaving out of your life due to laziness. There are numerous health benefits associated with physical activity, and it's something that everyone should be doing, even if you have nothing more than twenty minutes a day. It's worth pointing out that mental health is just as important (if not more) than physical health, so get up from your computer screen and go do something active.
